Lust for Blood
by wildbats
Summary: Overtired and understaffed, things don't get any easier for Greg and Catherine, as series of disturbing murders escalates. Will they get too involved and end up suffering consequences? Can they help each other out in the time of need? GregCath
1. Chapter 1

Okay this is my second story I have started writing based on CSI. It is going to be a darker story than my last one. Enjoy!

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He looked on admirably at their work before leaving the room. Tonight had been such a rush for him. It left him feeling powerful and also left him wanting to do it again. He gazed over at his girl, who in her blood stained shirt and jeans, made him even more excited.

"We better get going. Make sure you have everything. It is going to be sunrise soon," he said to his girl. Her glassy eyes glanced down at the duffle bag she held. She looked at her boyfriend.

"It's all here. I already double-checked." She sauntered over to him, grabbing him by his waistband on his jeans and drawing him in for a kiss.

"When can we do it again," she breathed into his ear.

"Soon, my love. Soon."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It felt like a never-ending shift. She stifled a yawn as she walked into the break room to find him huddled over some paperwork.

"Hey Greg, we got a double homicide out near Searchlight." The former lab rat turned CSI turned his head to face her.

"Really? Why can't the dayshift take it," he moaned.

Catherine came over to sit in the chair next to him. "Did you forget they are shorthanded and since Grissom and Warrick are at the seminar in LA, so are we?"

Greg sighed. "So much for ever getting caught up on some sleep."

"You know what they say, no rest for the weary." Greg rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's get going. We have a bit of a drive ahead of us. It's off of Highway 164."

Greg gathered up his paperwork and filed it before heading to his locker to grab his case and then meeting Catherine out at the Denali. He put their cases in the back and then took his place in the passenger seat next to Catherine, who always insisted on driving.

He glanced over at Catherine, whose strawberry blonde hair was straight again today. She went back and forth between the straight and the curly look, although Greg preferred the curly look, but would never tell her that aloud. She was always dressed nice and today was no exception. She wore black slacks with a form fitting reddish brown shirt.

"So you got any details on what we are going to besides it being a double murder," he asked her.

"A housekeeper called it in. It's at the Cactus Tree Motel. She came in and found a bloody mess and a couple bodies from what I was told. A local sheriff deputy will meet us at the scene."

"So let me guess, probably some sort of roach motel," he grinned.

She glanced his way, smirking. "Our favorite kind."

"Yeah I can see it already, fingerprints everywhere from the last 20 guests. I cannot wait."

Catherine smirked at his sarcastic tone. She was glad that his humor had been returning more recently. After the rough year he had, she could not blame him for being more serious about everything, but she had missed the goofy, crazy haired DNA tech Greg she remembered. Since he became a CSI he had changed and matured so much. She admired how well he handled himself during the Demetrius James situation and now that it was finally wrapped up he seemed to be returning more to his old self.

After about an hour and a half drive, they pulled up to the Cactus Tree Motel on the left side of the road. She pulled into the small parking lot, next to the patrol car. The crime scene tape had been stretched across room 21, as the door sign read.

It was a small roadside motel of about 30 rooms. The parking lot was empty now, except for the patrol car, a white Lincoln parked near the front desk area, and a red 90's model Mustang, that was included in the taped off area.

Greg followed with their two metal cases in his hands, after Catherine who was approaching Sheriff Deputy Harrison guarding the scene.

"So what exactly do we have here," she asked after introducing herself and Greg.The fair-haired deputy with blue eyes and a friendly face looked grimly at her. "It's pretty bad. There is blood everywhere. I've never seen anything like it before in my life. The two bodies are slashed all over. The housekeeper is at the Front Desk, being consoled by the manager of the place. I think the scene traumatized her."

"Do you know the victims' names," Greg asked him.

Sheriff Deputy Harrison pulled out a notepad. "Yeah, James and Tessa Williams. Both were 28 years old and newly married, according to the manager, who checked them in."

Catherine gave Greg a grim look. "You ready to go in?" Greg handed her the case as if saying he was ready to go.

They put on their latex gloves and opened the door to the bloody scene. Catherine made a low whistle at the scene before her. Blood was splattered all over the room; walls, furniture, and carpeting all covered. The A/C unit had kept the room cold so the smell was not too terrible yet.

Greg just stared in wonder at the scene. "Where do we start?"

Catherine pointed to the two bloody, naked bodies on the bed. "We'll start with taking photos of the room and the bodies. The coroner should be here soon for the bodies."

Catherine started with the bed and the two victims laying on it. Greg went over to the bathroom to take photos.

The bathroom did not have much blood in it, only little drops on the vinyl flooring. He smelled bleach fairly strongly coming from the sink and bathtub area.

"Looks like the killer cleaned up some in here with bleach. The sink and bathtub look spotless, but there are some blood drops on the flooring. I'll swab them."

Catherine looked more closely at the two victims. James Williams was lying face down; while Tessa lay next to him, face up. "Their necks are slashed." She looked more over the bodies. Long bloody slashes covered much of the back of the man. "The man has long lacerations along his back. Perhaps the killer cleaned his knife in the bathroom, hence the bleach smell."

Greg came back out and went on the other side of the bed. The girl's face was bruised along with a cut going down the left side from her ear to her chin. More cuts over her body and two huge stab wounds in her chest. The ones that ended her life, he guessed.

Greg looked at Catherine, grimly. "Looks like they were put through hell before dying."

Catherine returned the grim look. "Yeah, there is some sick bastard out there on the loose who did this."

Greg just nodded his head in agreement and started walking around the room again, taking more photos and collecting evidence. Greg was right about there being tons of fingerprints in the room. He took several different ones from the dresser and nightstand. He had found very few in the bathroom, which they now pretty much concluded that the killer had used to clean up after himself. There were even more on the room door.

David Phillips, the assistant coroner for Clark County finally arrived on the scene. "Nice to see you, Dave. What took you so long," Catherine asked him.

"Sorry, we had to take care of one for day shift. Got here as soon as we could." He looked around the room. "Dang, this is bloody mess."

Greg cocked an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, tell us about it."

David got to work with Tessa Williams first, taking her body temp via her liver. "I'd place time of death at about 7 hours ago, about 3am." He next went to the man and gave the same results.

His assistant came in and helped him take the bodies out. Greg and Catherine went to work on bagging the bedding and taking the ALS and using it on the mattress and the rest of the room.

Besides the blood on the walls and carpeting, they also discovered bodily fluids on them. It was not that unusual for the carpeting but on the walls it was a bit more obscure. Greg just looked around at the spots lighting up on the ALS.  
"What the hell went on in here?"

Catherine shook her head. "I don't know, but we are going to find out."

Catherine left Greg in the room to finish processing it, while she went with Deputy Harrison to question the housekeeper and the motel manager.

The housekeeper was a young woman of Mexican decent. She did seem horrified and Catherine could not really blame her. The scene was pretty gruesome even by her standards.

The housekeeper did not provide much information. She had not noticed anything prior to opening their door and then once she saw the blood everywhere, she ran over to the front desk and called 911 from there.

Catherine had more questions for the manager of the motel. His name was Harold Adams and he was a balding man in his late 50's, with squinty brown eyes.

"Mr. Adams, you checked in the Williams couple?"

"Yes, they came in at about 7 pm, last night. They were very happy, saying they were on some sort of road trip honeymoon. They paid cash for their one night stay. That red mustang in the lot is theirs."

"Did you see any suspicious looking people around last night," Catherine continued on.

"Well, I lock up the desk here at midnight and just have the on call button in use, since I live behind the place here. I did not see or hear anything last night that was unusual."

"Okay, well if you think of anything that can help us, give us a call."

She went back into room 21 to find Greg. "Hey, how's it going?"

He got up from his squatting position after bagging a few more strands of hair. "It's going to take forever for all of this stuff to be processed." He sighed. He looked just about as tired as she felt.

"Yeah I know. At least we are getting the car towed back to the lab. We can get to that there."

Catherine helped Greg finish gathering up everything they could find that might help them find their killer. Then they put everything into the Denali and started heading back to the lab.


	2. Chapter 2

It was already after 3 pm by the time they hit the road on the way back. Greg covered his mouth to hide his yawn from Catherine. A couple seconds later, Catherine was also yawning. Greg could not help but chuckle.

Catherine eyed him suspiciously. "What are you laughing at?"

"Oh just how we are still on the same shift and our next shift starts in about 5 hours."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah this has been a long one. We can maybe catch a few z's before 8 pm."

"If we are lucky. I wonder if Sara and Nick are still at it?"

Catherine shrugged her shoulders. "I doubt it. They are probably at home sleeping nicely now," she sighed.

"Remind me to hate them when I see them," Greg frowned.

Catherine grinned. "You know, I won't care if you happen to catch a few winks here before we get back to the lab."

"Nah, I'll be okay. I'll just buy stock in Blue Hawaiian Coffee after all that I will be consuming."

Catherine caught the grin on his face growing. "I'm surprised you haven't already."

"Well, I now see that it might be a good investment seeing how much I down in a week."

Catherine laughed.

"Changing gears, so did the housekeeper or motel manager have any useful info for us, " he asked her.

She filled him in on the little information they provided in interview.

"So nobody saw or heard anything?"

"Well there was a guest who checked out at about 9 am who the sheriff deputy is trying to track down. Otherwise the place was empty from guests last night with the exception of our victims."

"Hopefully somewhere in the tons of fingerprints, hairs, or blood samples we have we will find out killer."

When they got back to the lab they unloaded all their DNA evidence on Wendy and trace evidence with Hodges.

Catherine told Greg to go home for a few hours sleep, as she had to go home to be with her daughter, Lindsay for a few hours and rest some her self.

Catherine checked back in at the lab at 9 pm. Sara and Nick were already there going through some evidence from a home invasion and murder case they had.

Sara looked up from the microscope at Catherine. "I heard you and Greg got called out to a pretty nasty scene."

"Yeah it looked like our killer had a slashing frenzy with our Vics. I am going to Doc Robbins now to see what exactly was done. When Greg gets in tell him where I am."

She walked into the coroner's lab. Doc Robbins stood over James Williams' lifeless form.

"So what do you have for me, Doc?"

Doc Robbins looked at her over his glasses. "They both have numerous lacerations on their bodies, but COD was from their necks being slashed."

"Are all the lacerations made by the same knife, you think," she questioned.

"No, it would appear some of them were made by possibly a small pocket knife and a serrated edged knife."

"So our killer had multiple weapons," Catherine thought out loud.

"Actually you might have more than one killer."

Catherine's eyes grew bigger. "Really? What gives?"

"Well, here on the male, the knife wounds were made at a different angle than the knife wounds on the female. It looks to be one person was left handed and the other right."

"So we have two killers working together on this. Great!"

"It also appears she was sexually assaulted by the bruises to her pelvic area." He walked over to Tessa's body and pointed out the bruising to Catherine.

Catherine shook her head. "They were on their honeymoon."

Doc Robbins looked at her. "Yeah well DNA can tell us for sure if the semen was her husband's or someone else's."

Greg came into the autopsy room. "Hey Doc! Hey Cath! Say I ran into Henry on the way here. He had the toxicology results from out victims. Said he found traces of Midazolam in them. They were drugged."

Catherine frowned. "So these killers seemed to know what they were doing. We need to see if there have been any similar crimes like this elsewhere."

"Did I hear you say Killers, as in more than one?"

Catherine nodded her head at Greg. "Doc Robbins says we probably have two based on the knife wounds on each victim being different angles. A lefty and a righty."

Catherine filled him in on the rest of Doc Robbins findings on the way to DNA to see Wendy.

Wendy looked up when she heard them coming. "Hey, you just dropped all this on me a couple hours ago. Give me some more time to get through this all. And you of all people should know that," she said pointing to Greg.

Greg held up his hands in defense. "Hey, we did not even say anything yet. We were just simply going to ask how it is coming along."

She glared at him for a moment, but since he looked tired as hell, she dropped it. "Okay, well I do have a couple of results for you anyway. The semen stains on the bedding all belong to James Williams."

"Really? Did you get the results from Tessa Williams," Greg asked her.

"Again it was James'. She was not raped from what my results say."

"I did tell Doc Robbins it was their honeymoon," Catherine said as a possible reason again for the bruising.

"Anything else for us, Wendy," she asked before continuing on.

"Check back in an hour."

They headed over to Mandy to check if any fingerprints had come through with matches yet. She was having no luck so far with any. She told them she would page them when she had something for them.

They went into the conference room and spread out the crime scene photos on the table. "So let's try to piece together what we have so far."

"Well we have two victims and possibly two killers who enjoy their work, by the looks of things," Greg commented.

Catherine agreed. "Yes and they bring stuff with them, like bleach and a couple knives to do their work. So they must be carrying a bag or something with them."

Greg looked at the photo of the bodies and how they were positioned. "Do you think they purposely placed the bodies like that and if so why?"

Catherine thought for a moment. "I am thinking it was done on purpose. Why I'm not sure exactly. Maybe they did it to show off their work. I mean the male vic has most of his slashes on his back, whereas the female seemed to have more on her front side. They wanted us to see what they do."

"So if there are two killers, they picked two victims, one for each. How do they get into the room? There were no signs of forced entry. Do the victims know them? Maybe the killers acted like they were working for the motel or something?"

Catherine nodded. "That is a good possibility. Hopefully Wendy or Mandy will get some matches for us to look into soon." Catherine's cell rang. She answered it.

"Okay, be over in a second." She hung up and looked to Greg. "Doc Robbins has something to show us on the bodies."

They went back into the autopsy room. "Come here…I found needle marks on both victims, both in the neck area." He pointed to Tessa and showed them the tiny bruise made from the needle puncture in her neck. Then he went over to James' body and showed the similar markings on his neck.

"So that is where they were most likely injected with the Midazolam and subdued," Greg assumed.

"Yes, I would agree." Doc Robbins noted.

"Thanks," Catherine said and left with Greg to head back over to the DNA lab. An hour had passed.

"Hey I was just about to page you two. I got a couple hits through CODIS from the hairs you found. One was of your victim, Tessa Williams. Then I got two more hits. One is Rachel Mastic. She is on file for petty theft. The other is more interesting. Jessica Myers, aka Jessie May. She recently got out of prison after seeing a 5 years sentence for stabbing her ex-boyfriend. She got out early for good behavior."

"You got a current address for her," Catherine question Wendy.

"Yes, I gave it to Brass already to look up."

"Thanks Wendy. At least we are getting someone to look into."

Catherine called Brass on her cell phone while Greg went to Mandy, who had paged them while they were with Wendy.

"Hey Greg! I got a print match for you."

He grinned. "Let me guess, Jessica Myers."

She frowned, looking at him over her glasses. "Wendy beat me to it, didn't she?"

Greg nodded his head. "Sorry."

"Well, I also got another match off a partial print. Trevor Kazan, he has a prior for assault. Never did any time for it though. Don't have a current address on him."

"Hmm, anything else I should know?"

Mandy shrugged her shoulders. "It's all I've got for now. All the others came back to the victims."

Greg was headed towards Catherine's office when David Hodges called after him.

"Hey Sanders, I got something for you."

"This better be good."

Hodges turned around to face Greg. "When do I not have something good?"  
"I can think of a few times," Greg smirked.

"Yeah when?" Hodges demanded.

Too tired to argue, Greg sighed. "Look, forget about it. Just tell me what you found."

Hodges huffed a bit. "I'll let it drop this time." He pointed to his scope then. "Look and tell me what you see."

Greg looked down the microscope and saw a fine blue dust. He lifted his head. "Is that pool cue chalk?"

Hodges grinned. "Very good. I am surprised you got it."

"I did use to do this kind of stuff before you were around. Anyway was this off the clothes from the victims?"

"From the woman's blouse, on the shoulder area."

"So they play a game of pool before going on a killing spree, how nice." Greg thought out loud.

"That or they carried pool cue chalk around with them and it rubbed off on their stuff," Hodges suggested.

"Just strange. Anything else."

"Nope, that's all for now." Greg started to leave.

"Oh Greg, concealer works good for those dark circles under your eyes." Hodges yelled after him.

Greg stopped for a second and was about to turn around with some retort, but then decided not to bother. He had better things to do then go another round with Hodges.

Hodges looked after him, surprised, as Greg kept on walking.

Greg met Catherine in her office. He slumped down in a chair. "Didn't get much sleep, did you." She sympathized with him.

"Unless you call 3 hours a lot of sleep, no. What about you?"

"Got to spend an hour with Lindsay then slept for 2, so I got you beat on the hours slept," she winked at him.

"Not something I would want to win," he replied sheepishly.

"True. So anyway Brass went to the address of Jessica Myers. No one is living there right now. So Brass has notified her parole officer of this and made him aware we need to question her if she gets in touch with him."

"I have a couple things," Greg said, and then informed her of what Mandy and Hodges gave him.

"Trevor Kazan was the last guest to stay in that room, according to the motel records. We've already been in contact with him. He has a solid alibi for that night in question."

Greg looked displeased. "So the only possible lead we have we cannot find. That seems rather convenient."

"Agreed, she must have something to do with this or knows something."

Catherine and Greg continued going over what they had so far and tried piecing it all together, but so far there were no other leads.

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A/N-I will try to update at least twice a week. I work a lot of overtime so I do not always have time to type up what I have written. 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N-Thanks for all the positive reviews so far. I hope I do not disappoint!!

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Greg and Catherine were six hours into their shift when Capt. Brass came to Catherine. "We have another murder, same MO as the one you and Greg had yesterday. Location is about 15 miles west on Highway 164, the Desert View Motel." He handed Catherine the address. "I will meet you two out there."

Catherine found Greg in the garage looking over the victim's Mustang. "Greg, we have another one. Looks like the same killers struck again."

"Yeah? Where," he asked as he got out of the driver's seat of the car.

Catherine filled him in on the details and told him to be ready to go in fifteen minutes.

This was an even smaller motel then the last one. It only had 15 rooms, one of which the owner/front desk clerk lived in. It seemed most of the small properties were like this on the rural highways.

David Phillips was already on the scene when Catherine and Greg arrived, with their kits in hand.

"Hey Dave, what do we have this time?"

"The TOD is approximately 2 hours ago. Similar type lacerations and throats slashed like the last victims."

Greg's eyes looked around the tiny room. "Looks like the same kind of bloody mess they left last time too."

Splatters of blood covered the walls and floors again. The two victims, again a male and a female laid in the same positions on top of the bloodied bed.

"Well seems like we have ourselves some serial killers on our hands," Catherine mused.

Greg had walked towards the bathroom. "I already smell the bleach from here. So they make a mess during the killing process but then clean up after themselves in the bathroom with bleach. Then why make such a mess of it in the first place?"

Catherine glanced at the younger CSI. "They probably enjoy the slashing and murder process, yet do not want to leave too much behind for them to be caught. They want us to see they enjoy what they do."

As many times as Greg had been on cases like this, it was something he still could not get use to. The cold-hearted act of murder and the glee some people seemed to take in it. He started photographing the room.

Brass came in a few moments later.

"Our victims are Leo Stanger and Brenda Shaw. Both in their mid-thirties and it seems they checked in early yesterday. They were due to check out early today and had requested an early 4 am wake up call. Bob Maley, the motel owner, said Mr. Stanger told him the evening before he would be checking out by 5 am. When he had not come down by 6 am, Mr. Maley went over to the room here to make sure they got the wake up call. He says when he got no response, he assumed they had upped and left without coming to the front desk to check out. So he entered the room and saw what you see now. He immediately called 911 from his cell phone. He did mention seeing a tan pick up truck leave the motel at around 4:30 am. The truck had not been here the night before. The black Camry is the vics' car. He got no plate number for the tan truck, had no reason to," he told them.

"So the wake up call probably spooked our killers and then they rushed to finish the job. So maybe they left something behind for us this time." Catherine turned to Greg. "We are going to take our time with crime scene and hopefully get something substantial this time."

Greg simply nodded and went back to photographing the scene.

A couple hours later, Greg sighed as he stood up from searching under the bed for clues. "The maid here keeps this place cleaner than the previous motel. I've found a bunch of smudged prints on the door handles and partials on the dresser and nightstand, but not many hairs this time and under the bed is clean."

"Yeah same here. And here I was hoping they were rushed and left something behind. Looks like it does not take them long to clean their stuff and go."

They spent another hour at the scene then headed back to the lab. When they got there the day shift was in. They were both so tired, they dropped off their evidence at the appropriate place before Catherine and Greg went to their homes for a few hours rest.

Managing to each snag at least 5 hours of sleep this time, Greg met Catherine in her office to go over Dr. Robbins autopsy reports on the two newest victims. Long lacerations along their torsos and backs of both with some small, deeper cuts along their arms and some on their woman's face. The cause of the death was the deep lacerations across the throats of both victims. Toxicology reported also the sedative Midazolam in both of their systems."

"So they mildly sedate their victims first to gain control over the situation, then they start slicing skin and torturing them," Greg said to Catherine on his hunch.

"It would appear so. Only there is one main difference this time, Dr. Robbins said the woman appeared to be sexually assaulted with a foreign object this time."

"Yeah?" Greg thought for a moment. "I wonder if that pool cue chalk we found has anything to do with the object, say maybe a pool stick?" He raised his eyebrows in a guessing gesture.

"It's always a possibility. It would not be the first time I've heard one used in a rape."

"And if so, maybe our killers hang out at pool halls," Greg suggested.

"Could very well be. Good one, Greg. I'll have Brass check into some near our crime scenes. In the meantime see if Wendy has anything more for us.

They waited as the young couple came back to their motel room. They had seen them at the Five Dragons Bar, playing pool. They were perfect for what they wanted tonight. They followed them back to their motel in their Blue GMC Jimmy, at a distance, as to not be noticed.

He smiled at his girl as she watched the couple close the door to their room.

"It's a bit early. Let's say we grab something to eat and then come back and start the show."

She grinned back evilly. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Once again a hair found on the scene was Jessica Myers. Wendy had matched it. They put out an APB for the arrest of Jessica Myers for suspicion of murder. At least they had one possible suspect; the problem was bringing her in.

Greg went into the locker room during a break and laid down on the bench. He was just going to rest his eyes for a few minutes. They had been burning from the lack of sleep and staring at the photos of the two crime scenes for hours, trying to figure a pattern out, which there was none.

Sara came in to grab her jacket out of her locker and saw Greg sleeping on the bench. It had been a long couple of days for her and Nick, too, with Grissom and Warrick still out at the conference, but they did not have the messy crime scenes that Catherine and Greg had scored, which took hours longer to process. Every time they tried to help out with their case, Sara and Nick got called out on another new one in town. She could not wait until Grissom and Warrick got back.

She tried to be quiet and not wake up Greg but her cell phone went off. Greg stirred awake as she grabbed her phone. She mouthed an apology to him as she spoke on the phone. She ended the call quickly and noticed Greg staring into space, as he was sat up on the bench.

"Sleeping with your eyes open now, are we?" Greg looked at her, giving her a cockeyed frown.

"No, I wasn't. I was just trying to think the cobwebs out of my head. I didn't plan on falling asleep." He looked at his watch. It had only been about 20 minutes.

"So how long were you out, Sleeping Beauty," Sara smirked at him.

He glared at her with a grin. "Only about 20 minutes and it was my break time, Evil Stepmother."

"Wrong story tale, Greg," she laughed.

"Whatever. When do Gris and 'Rick get back anyway," he whined.

"Late tomorrow. Say I gotta run now. Nick called and said we got a new 415 off the Strip. Enjoy the rest of your shift."

He stood up and stretched his legs and arms before heading to check in with Catherine again. Two more days to go and hopefully he would have a whole day off to just sleep.

Catherine was on her phone when he came in. She held up her hand for him to give her a moment. He stood just outside her door to give her some privacy.

When she finally waved him in, she explained she was on the phone with her daughter.

He smiled at her. "I had a feeling by the look on your face."

She looked surprised at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh just that your face always seems to lighten up more when you are talking to her. It must be hard these last few days hardly seeing her."

Catherine was pleasantly surprised at how he noticed how she was when she spoke to Lindsay and his concern for her about not seeing her daughter much. She suddenly felt very comfortable talking about Lindsay to him.

"Well she is having a tough time in some of her science classes, like chemistry, which is weird. I was pretty good at it, but then again I took a lot of those when I was much older than she was."

"I was a science nerd, I freely admit and excelled at Chemistry. If she ever needs help on it, I could try to help her out," Greg offered.

"Thanks Greg, that's really sweet of you to offer. We might just take you up on that." She smiled.

Greg smiled back at her at the thought. "Has Brass had any luck on tracking down Jessica Myers yet," he asked her to get them talking about the case again.

"No, he has not found her, but he did find out she use to work as a nurse, but before she stabbed her ex-boyfriend, she was fired from her job for finding drugs in her system after random drug testing at her workplace."

"So she has a history of drug use and knowledge of drugs and has used a knife in a stabbing before. She sounds like a prime suspect to me," Greg shrugged his shoulders.

"Ditto. Now we just have to find her and figure out who her accomplice is in all this before they do it again."

Brass had walked up to catch just the end of her sentence. "Too late! We have another one. They moved north, though. This one happened off of hwy 157 at the North Vegas Lodge."

"No way, 3 nights in a row? What so they have some kind of scoreboard," Greg exclaimed.

"Seems so. We are putting out more info on Jessica Myers to find her. Hopefully someone will spot her. In the meantime I will meet you at the scene."

Greg look exasperated at Catherine. "We have to find these killers soon before they get to anyone else."

"Yes we do. I am sure Grissom and Warrick will help us out once they get back to work. I know this case is going to be priority one until it is solved." She got up, grabbed her jacket off her chair and made a motion for Greg to follow her. "Let's get to the scene."


	4. Chapter 4

Catherine led the way into the motel room. The scene looked so familiar now. Blood splatter on the walls and flooring, the bodies laid in their own pools of blood on the bed in the same positions and the smell of bleach from the bathroom. She sighed as she found David taking the body temperature from the liver to determine TOD from the female body.

He looked up at her as she approached. "Looks like TOD for both were approximately around 4:30 am. These killers definitely seem to stay true to form, except for changing sides of town on us."

"Yeah, I just hope one of these days someone catches them in the act," Catherine frowned while taking notes on the scene.

Greg had ventured into the bathroom to take photos and then he swabbed for traces of blood or anything else, but came up empty. They seemed to be doing better with cleaning up after themselves.

It took Greg and Catherine a couple hours again to go over the whole room. When they got back to the lab, they were exhausted. They recapped what they had so far on all three scenes.

"So far we know our killers like to stick to a pattern. They like to hit couples that are staying at these rural roadside motels. They possibly pick their victims by watching the motel or see their victims elsewhere. They somehow gain entrance into the vics rooms and probably drug them as soon as they can in order to gain control over the situation. Then perhaps, once their vics are lucid enough again, they start to play with them, torture them by cutting them and watching them bleed and beg for their lives. As they cut them they take their knives with the blood on them and like making a painting throw the blood onto the walls, around the room. They continue this for a while until their vics are pretty much out of it. Then they slash their throats to just end it. Once they are dead, they take their knives and go into the bathroom to wash them off, cleanse the place with bleach, pack up their things and make off as another game is done for them." Catherine vividly played the scene out in her mind as she gave her recount.

Greg could also see it as she described it; except he thought of something she left out. "The last two female victims, according to Dr. Robbins reports, were raped with a foreign object. After finding the pool cue chalk on the first vics clothes and then signs of it on the newest victim, we can possibly assume they used a pool stick as the object to rape them."

Catherine twisted her features looking disgusted. "We need to get these sickos off the street soon. At least they have warned all rural motels to be on the look out for suspicious activities, so maybe we will get lucky soon."

Brass came in with a smile on his face. "Did I hear someone getting lucky? I think we just did. It seems Miss Jessica Myers was at a convenient store out in North Vegas buying some stuff when the clerk recognized her and called us. An officer was in the area and picked her up fast. She is being brought in now and her vehicle is being brought into the garage."

Greg and Catherine looked at each other, smiles on both of their faces. "Greg, once her vehicle is here start processing it. I am going with Jim for interview."

Greg nodded and headed out while Catherine went with Brass to Central.

Greg put on his coveralls and got to work on the GMC Jimmy. He was not finding much other than fingerprints and hairs until he looked under the drivers side seat. He pulled out a small white towel. He examined the towel more closely and smiled when he found what he was hoping for. There was a tiny smear of blood on it. He took out a swab to make sure it was blood. It tested positive. He bagged it and took it over to Wendy in DNA, telling her it was a priority. Wendy knew at this point anything on this case was a priority.

Greg went back to the SUV to finish searching the rest of it. After finding nothing else with the naked eye he put on the special goggles and used the ALS light on the interior of the car. Faint traces of blood could be seen under the light. They must have cleaned the seats on the car, but not well enough for the ALS.

He then proceeded to go to the back of the Jimmy. Again traces came through with the light. He got the specially equipped camera to take photos of the interior under the ALS.

When he was finished with the SUV, he headed over to Wendy with the rest of what he collected.

"Hey Greg, you got good timing today. I got a positive match on the blood from the towel to Lacey Rowland, the vic from the last murder."

Greg smiled. "It's about time. I'll call Catherine and let her know. Thanks a lot, Wendy."

"You're welcome. Oh and when you got this case wrapped up, get some sleep will ya. You look like hell."

Greg shook his head at her, but was grinning. "Thanks, I'll remember you said that next time I see you looking tired."

Jessica Myers was playing with her medium length, dark brown hair. Her shallow, glassy brown eyes glared at Brass and Catherine Willows. They might as well as have been talking to a brick wall, as she refused to answer any questions.

Catherine's cell phone rang went off. She quickly pardoned herself from the interrogation room and answered the call.

"Catherine, it is Greg. I found a towel under her SUV seat with blood on it. The blood matches Lacey Rowland, our last victim." She could hear the excitement in his voice. He tended to get that way when he found a key piece of evidence.

"Great, that gives us something to maybe rattle her cage. She has not been saying a thing. Anything else I should know before I go back in?"

"They seemed to clean up the SUV pretty well but the ALS still detected blood on driver and passenger side seats. Also in the back on the carpeting some spots. Not much else for now until more test results are back."

"Thanks Greg. Why don't you go home now and get some sleep. I'll page you when needed or see you at start of shift later on today."

"Thanks. Wendy told me I looked like hell already anyway," he laughed then said goodbye.

Catherine went back into the interrogation room. Jim's eyes looked for a glimmer of hope from Catherine. She gave him a big smile, and then took the seat next to him again.

"Jessica, it seems we found a towel under the driver's side seat of your vehicle with blood on it. And guess what, that blood matches one of our victims from the murder last night. Now how do you explain that?"

Jessica rolled her eyes, and then simply said, "I want my lawyer."

Catherine looked to Jim, who simply shrugged his shoulders. She was going to be a tough cookie to crack but at least they had solid evidence now to hold her.

Catherine went home shortly after and got to see her daughter home from school and managed to catch a few hours sleep. When she got back into work a half hour early, she was surprised to see Greg already there. He was in the locker room talking with Nick and Sara about their case.

"Hey Nick. Hi Sara. Greg, I am surprised you are here already," she said with a smirk.

He scowled at her. "I do come in early once in awhile and well I wanted to see what happened with Jessica Myers."

"Well we did not get anywhere with her. She kept silent and then demanded her lawyer, but she is being held without bail for right now."

"So it looks like this Jessica Myers is possibly one of the killers. Any idea who her accomplice is," Nick asked them.

Catherine shook her head. "No, so far we do not know. We are not even sure if it is another woman or a man."

"Well hopefully with one possible suspect in custody, there will be no more killings," Sara said with a slight smile.

"Let's hope so," Greg replied as he looked toward Catherine, who nodded in agreement.

Even with a lawyer present, Jessica Myers was still keeping her silence. She was not going to give up her love. She had finally found someone to trust and love unconditionally. Plus when she found out his secret passion, she knew they were meant to be together. And together they enjoyed their new nightly activities. She only hoped that he would continue on with their work in her temporary absence.

He paced the floor in front of the television, pissed off that Jessie was in custody. How could she have been so stupid and careless? He warned her to keep a low profile, since her face had been shown on the news.

He had to get her back somehow, before she decided to rat him out. If she did, she would end up just as dead as the others. A plan was developing in his mind. It would not be easy to pull off alone, but he was determined to get her back with him, no matter what cost.

He grabbed his hunting knife and checked its blade for sharpness. Pleased, he took one more look at the news report and smiled to himself. He would get his Jessie back and enjoy his work in the process.


	5. Chapter 5

a/n- Again thanks for all the reviews. I am glad I am keeping you all in suspense. Things start to get pretty intense in this chapter.

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They were frustrated that their one solid suspect was not talking. They had really hoped she would give them something more to go on, but it was not happening. They knew her partner was out there somewhere and was still capable of continuing the crimes.

Catherine sat at the conference table opposite Greg, going over everything again, hoping they had missed something.

"Did we find out if Jessica Myers was left handed or right handed," Greg asked her.

"Hmm, good question." Catherine paged through her paperwork and found her sheet on Jessica Myers.

"Looks like Jessica is our lefty," she said to Greg.

Greg looked over the photos of the bodies so far. "By what Doc Robbins said, all the female victims necks were slashed by the left handed person, making Jessica look even more guilty."

"Yeah I am thinking we are set with her as one of the killers. Now it is finding her accomplice."

Greg had just sat down to eat a sandwich for his break when Catherine paged him. She said for him to meet her in her office.

He re-bagged his sandwich, grumbling while he placed it back in the fridge. He kept his cup of coffee with him as he went to her office.

Catherine was putting on her lightweight jacket as he came in her office. "What's up," he asked sheepishly.

"We have another scene slightly different from the last so I hear. Probably because the partner in crime is in lockup. On the North side of city again. Only one body. Brass is meeting us there.

"This one was found earlier than the last three too. It's only 3 am. Who called it in?" Greg asked her.

Catherine shook her head. "Jim did not say. Get your stuff and meet me by the Denali."

The Dusty Winds Motel had only 10 rooms. Greg looked at the place and thought someone would really have to be hard up and desperate to spend a night, let alone a few minutes in the rooms there.

The room smelled heavily of stale cigarettes and that metallic smell of blood mixed together. The drapes were a brown and yellow plaid pattern to match with the dirty yellow walls. The blood splatter was minimal on the walls and floors this time, which was one of the differences on this scene from the others. It was mostly centered on the bed area where the male body laid. The lacerations and COD were all pretty much the same as the last male victims.

David Phillips was examining the body. "Seems TOD was only about 2 hours ago." He was closely looking at the lacerations. "These are done sloppier than on the previous victims. Looks like more of a rush job."

Catherine leaned down next to Dave to get a closer look herself. "Hmm, I think you are right. Perhaps he is pissed off that his partner is in lock up, so he just does not take as much time and enjoyment in the act as he did with her around."

Greg came in from the bathroom area. He overheard what they said. "The person also did not take as much time cleaning up after himself or herself. There are some blood spots on the vinyl floor in the bathroom. Maybe Jessica was the one who did all the cleaning up."

"So he or she is angry when they find out Jessica was caught. This person still wants to continue with the act minus their partner, they just do not take as much time in the act of torturing the victim. Perhaps that was more of Jessica's thing. This person just did the task more quickly this time around but still leaves the signature scene so we know one is still out there and willing to go on killing without Jessica." Catherine felt that this remaining person would be more erratic in their behavior.

"They don't need to stick to the exact schedule they were on before. This person is more of a loose cannon, I think."

Greg frowned. "Great, so now we have the more erratic person still on the loose."

Catherine gave him a knowing look as she got up to take come more photos of the body before Dave took him away.

Capt. Brass came in a few minutes after Dave left in the County Coroner van. "Hey Catherine, can you take over talking to the motel manager and desk clerk. I got another scene to check out. Everything under control here?" He glanced at Greg, then back to Catherine for acknowledgement.

"Yeah, we are fine here. We will meet you back at the lab later." She went back to finishing collecting the few hairs and fibers left on the bed sheets. She then bagged them and turned to Greg, who was still photographing blood splatters on the floor and wall near the bed.

"Greg, I am going to go now and question the motel people. I'll be back as soon as I can to help you finish with the rest of this mess." She grinned at him. He smirked back at her.

"Thanks." She left him in the room alone to continue collecting evidence.

Greg went back to searching the dirty carpeting and taking swabs from any blood

on it, just in case the suspect cut himself at all.

He was on his hands and knees on the floor and saw something underneath the bed. It looked like an earring. He knew with a motel room that was as dirty as it was, it could have been left behind from previous guests, but it could be from this victim or suspect.

He reached under the bed and grabbed the earring. He looked at it closely with his flashlight. It was a diamond stud earring. Greg smiled when he noticed some residue left on the post. Having his years of DNA experience, he knew it was possibly epithelial left on it. He grabbed for a small plastic evidence bag out of his CSI vest and placed the earring in it.

Suddenly he sensed the presence of someone behind him. He thought that maybe Catherine had come back, but realized she would have announced herself.

He quickly turned around in just enough time to see a man about to stick him with a syringe. He threw his arm up and knocked the needle out of the man's hand. The large, bald headed man grabbed for Greg's throat and shoved him back down to the ground and started choking him. Greg tried breaking free of the man's powerful grip around his neck but was not having much luck. His air supply was slowing being cut off. Greg had to do something quick before he lost consciousness. Greg rose up his knee hard into the man's groin.

The large man howled out in pain, letting go of his grip on Greg. Greg took a moment to catch his breath, then managed to get to his feet and started scrambling to the door, which was now closed.

His attacker saw him make a break for the door and even though he was in pain, he ran after him. He could not let him escape. It would ruin his plans.

He had waited patiently from across the street, hidden behind some bushes, after calling from a pay phone down the road for the cops to arrive on the scene. He was watching the cops and CSI's go in and out of the room. He had waited until he counted that only one person was left in the room. He was glad they made it easy for him to enter the room by leaving the door open to it. He was hoping the woman would have been the one left behind, but it was the young guy instead. He had sized him up and figured he would probably be easy to overtake, but now he was pissed off and the young CSI was about to get away. He was glad he was able to close the door quietly enough without the young CSI hearing him before. It would slow him down some.

Greg got to the door and grabbed the handle to open it, only to suddenly feel something sharp strike him in his upper right back area. Incredibly sharp pain started radiating down his right side. His mind fogged up from the excruciating pain in his shoulder. He knew he had to keep going to get out of the room, but he was grabbed from behind and thrown against the door.

Then he felt the cause of his shoulder pain ripped out of his back, causing him to feel lightheaded from the new pain it caused. He fell to his knees. His attacker grabbed him and started punching him where the wound was. The pain he was in was clouding his mind and judgment. He felt like he had when he was getting beaten by the gang of youths about a year prior.

His attacker was happy seeing as he regained control of the situation before the CSI had opened the door. Seeing that his victim was subdued from his pain, he stopped punching his shoulder and dragged him away by his right arm.

Greg could not help but cry out in pain when he was dragged across the room, to the far corner. The bald man glared down at him as Greg tried to reach over with his left arm to stop the bleeding from the knife wound in his shoulder. Greg's pained eyes looked up at his attacker to get a better look at him.

He wore blue jeans and a black t-shirt with skull and crossbones on it. He was about 6'4" tall and had a dark goatee and a shaved head. He looked about 250 pounds. His cold grey eyes stared down at Greg. He played with the large, bloody hunting knife in his hands.

Greg closed his eyes a moment, suddenly realizing the situation he was in. He could see the bodies from the previous crime scenes and how they had been cut and slashed. He felt his blood run cold at the thought of the same thing happening to him. He had to get out of this.

He remembered Catherine would be returning soon. She had her gun on her, but he might be dead with one slash to his neck before she got back.

"Sanders, is that your name," his attacker asked him. Greg opened his eyes and looked up at the man.

"Yeah-Colonial Sanders from KFC! And I suppose your name is Psycho." Greg smirked. He did not know why he felt like being a smart ass at a time like this, but he knew he would end up paying for it.

The man's eyes bore into Greg. "Don't you be smart with me, boy," he growled as he waved his knife at him.

"You are just lucky I need you alive for awhile so I can use you to get my Jessie back."

Well now he confirmed it for sure that he was Jessica Myers accomplice. "So what's your plan, my life in exchange for hers?" Greg knew he was gambling with his length of life just by asking but it was helping him stay focused on the situation and not the pain he was in.

"Yeah that is the plan."

"Doesn't seem like much of a plan to me. Are you sure you have thought this through?"

The killer bent down right in front of Greg, holding his knife against Greg's throat. Greg knew he pushed a bit too far now and hoped he lived to regret it.

"Sanders, you got a mouth on you I do not like. I can just as easily take pleasure in killing you now and get a new plan."

Greg held his eyes even with those of this brutal killer as much as he could through his fear and pain.

The killer just grunted seeing as Greg had no response. "I thought so. Not so tough with a knife to your throat, but I still do not trust you." He reached behind his back and pulled out some cable ties. He roughly grabbed Greg's right wrist, causing Greg to grimace in pain and then tied a cable tie around it. He linked another one through it then grabbed Greg's left wrist and bonded them together.

"Oh and you can just call me Ty, if you need to beg for your life at some point."

Greg glared at him but was thankful his hands were bound in front of him and not behind his back.

Suddenly they both heard a female voice saying Greg's name. Greg was just about to yell out when Ty pushed the knife against his neck and pulled Greg up to his feet, positioning him so that he was holding Greg in front of him as a shield, with the knife right to his throat.

In Greg's weakened condition, he hardly had a chance to react to being taken at knifepoint.

"Keep your mouth shut. I will not hesitate to slice open your throat right here and now."

Greg had seen his work and knew he was not kidding, so he stayed still and quiet, hoping Catherine knew something was going on.


	6. Chapter 6

Catherine noticed the door to the room closed as she approached it. It had been left open when she left Greg in it. She thought maybe Greg found some behind the door and had closed it to examine it.

She called his name to let him know she wanted to come back in. He did not respond. She called his name again. When he did not respond again she began to worry a bit. She was not sure why, but she had a bad feeling, so she pulled her gun out and held it ready as she opened the door. She also decided to open her cell phone and dial Brass and left it open in her pocket.

She opened it slowly, calling out Greg's name again. It was not until she had fully opened the door that she saw Greg being held with a knife against his throat.

Greg's eyes were staring at her, wide with fear but on his face she noticed a pained look. Then she spotted blood on his still gloved hands and noticed blood on the hands of the large man holding the knife to him.

"Put down the knife or I will shoot," she said, trying to remain calm for her own sake and for the man who was holding Greg hostage.

Ty chuckled. "You'll hit your boy here before you hit me. So why don't you put down your gun and we can discuss how you can help prolong the life of Mr. Sanders here."

Catherine knew he was right. She would not have a clear shot at him, unless he moved Greg out of the way and Greg had no chance of moving, otherwise he'd be cutting his own neck.

She decided to try a different approach. "Greg, are you injured?"

The knife was put against his skin, so that he knew Ty was telling him to stay quiet. So instead of speaking to her, he simply closed his eyes slowly, and then reopened them, as if acknowledging it.

She could not see the injury so it must have been to his backside. She would now see as she gazed down at the ground around their feet, fresh blood. She had hoped the blood on his hands was not his, but now she knew it was.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Ty started speaking again. "I told your boy here earlier to stay quiet or risk his neck. It's good to know he listens well. But if you must know, he does seem to be bleeding a bit back here." He took his free hand and jabbed Greg right on the wound.

Greg could not help but groan out in pain. He closed his eyes a moment feeling his world go unsteady again. He took a couple deep breaths before reopening his eyes and looked at Catherine.

Catherine felt a pang of guilt seeing Greg suffer like he was. It had hardly been a year since he was beaten severely and now this.

"Now why don't you put down that gun and we can start some negotiating," the man grinned evilly at her.

She looked from the killer to Greg. Greg saw her giving thoughts to putting down the gun.

"Don't do it, Catherine. Do not give up your weapon," he said to her, his eyes pleading.

Ty jerked Greg harder against him. "I told you to stay quiet boy."

Catherine looked at Greg, trying to figure out what he was thinking. She was worried about what this crazy man might do to him.

Greg saw her start to lower her gun. "No Catherine! Do not do it. Don't worry about me, worry about yourself."

Catherine could not see but Ty reach into his left pocket with his left hand and pulled out a small pocketknife.

He whispered into Greg's ear. "You are going to regret that, Mr. Sanders."

Greg suddenly felt something sharp against the left side of his back start piercing his skin. He tried gritting his teeth to not scream out in pain, but as the pain ran down his back he could not help but cry out.

Catherine gasped as she saw Greg almost collapse in the man's arms from the pain he was in.

When the man was satisfied with the job he did, he pulled the small knife up to his mouth and licked the blood off it.

Catherine stared in sickened horror at the man. Catherine thought of the other victims that had been tortured and remembered they had been drugged. They were probably luckier than Greg, since he seemed to be totally conscious of what was happening to him.

She could not stand to see Greg hurt anymore. "I'll put my gun down. Just do not hurt him anymore."

Greg was not going to let her become a victim too. "No Catherine, please I am begging you, do not put your gun down. You do not want this to happen to you too." She could tell he was hurting when he said it, but his eyes were determined.

"Greg, no, I will not watch you suffer anymore."

His deep brown eyes pleaded with her. "Cath, think of your daughter. You need to do this for her."

Catherine could not believe his selflessness at a time like this. She almost had tears in her eyes watching him plead with her.

"Greg," she could not say anything else. She just wanted him to understand how she felt.

"No, protect yourself." She watched him as he tried to keep himself still standing up right, with the point of the bowie knife to his throat.

Ty had enough of this punk not listening to him. He took his pocketknife and started another trail down Greg's back, ending it this time with a direct stab into his lower back.

Greg barely made a gasp this time as the overwhelming pain overtook his body.

Catherine watched in horror as Greg's eyes had suddenly flown open widely with a gasp escaping from his lips before they closed and his body collapsed in Ty's arms.

Ty slid down to the ground, still holding onto Greg, making sure Greg was still shielding his own body.

"Now can you please drop your gun and kick it over here before I just simply finish him off by cutting his throat wide open right here in front of you."

Catherine was still trying to recover from her shock. She stared at Greg's limp, but still breathing body.

She finally put her gun onto the floor and kicked it near Greg and his capturer.

Ty smiled at her. "Good! Now I want you to sit down on the floor right where you are at, with your hands in front of you."

Catherine was not sure what his plan was, but now her gun was out of her reach, so she complied.

Ty, seeing as Greg was out cold now, lowered the knife from his neck and then proceeded to come over to where Catherine sat, which was only a few feet away, leaving Greg slumped against the corner wall.

As Ty crawled over to where she sat, Catherine noticed a syringe on the ground a few feet from her. He must have tried to get Greg with it, but Greg must have fought him off, causing the killer to take alternate measures to subdue Greg, hence the stabbing.

As he was right in front of her, she could see all the blood on his hands and it sickened her knowing it was Greg's. She saw him reach into his back pocket and lower the knife he had pointed at her while he got the cable ties out of his pocket. She took this as an opportune time to make her attempt to over take him.

She swung her fist into his face. She made a good impact into his jaw, throwing off his balance. She tried to grab his right wrist to wrestle the knife out of his hand, but he managed to swipe the knife at her arm, cutting her left arm. She yelled out in pain. She clutched it and he reached over and grabbed her wrist and started tying her hands up.

Catherine cursed herself for being so stupid. She knew he was big and would probably be able to overpower her, but she had to try something. She needed to try something else to buy some more time hoping Brass and company would be there soon. They had to have heard what was going on.

"Do you hit Jessica like that," she asked him as he sat her up against the side of the bed frame.

He glared at her. "I have never hit my woman. She never disrespects me."

"Was it your idea or her idea for the murders," she continued on in her risky attempt to question him.

He grunted, not happy with her. "What's with you investigators? The kid was a smart ass with me and now you are asking things I do not want to answer. I am running the show there, not you."

He roughly pulled her closer to him. "Now we do what I say."

He took the bowie knife and pressed it against her cheek. She felt the metal pressing against her face. She glanced over at Greg, who was still out. He was so pale it scared her. She prayed that Brass was going to be there soon.

Ty spoke to her again. "Now, we get down to business after all this bullshit. I want you to call your boss and tell him he has one CSI dying and another one about to unless he gets Jessica Myers released from jail." He picked up the phone next to the bed and told her to dial.

Catherine took the receiver and dialed Grissom's cell number instead of the Crime Lab directly.

"Grissom," he answered in a serious voice.

"Grissom, it is Catherine. We have a situation here." She watched Ty carefully as he prodded her to go on.

"Catherine? Brass and SWAT are on their way. Your phone died on us only about 2 minutes ago. Are you okay?" He spoke rapidly.

"I'm okay, but…" Just then Ty pushed his knife closer into her skin, letting her know to get on with it.

"Um, Greg is badly injured and we both will be killed if Jessica Myers is not released ASAP." She kept her eyes on Ty, seeking his approval in what she was saying. He seemed pleased with that she said.

"Okay, listen, just try to tell him we have to get in touch with the DA and stuff, stall him. Brass should be there any second. How bad is Greg?" She could hear the concern in his voice.

She glanced at him again, no change. "He's bleeding badly and unconscious." Ty pulled the phone away from her. "We'll call you back," he said then hung up. He gave Catherine a threatening glare. She feared what he might do next.

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A/N- Oh how I love to do cliffhangers. :) 


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N-Again thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate them. :) _

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Grissom clenched his jaw as he drove out to the scene after the phone call ended. The moment he got back into the office he got the call from Brass that two of his CSI's were in trouble. He had heard about the serial killers case while at the conference and was going to confer with Catherine and Greg on it when they got back from the scene. He heard from Brass about the weird call from Catherine and he said he would meet Brass out there.

He worried about his youngest CSI being unconscious and bleeding. He had just come off a really bad year and now this. He had discovered Greg was a lot stronger than he gave him credit for over the last year. He dealt with his problems very maturely. He had really grown up a lot since he started in the lab. He just hoped Greg still had enough strength in him to deal with this

* * *

"I do not appreciate it when you say more than I want you to say. Next time I will do the talking." Ty said angrily. 

"He was asking questions the DA would want to know. It could take awhile to get it arranged."

He smirked at her. "That's no problem for me, doll. I got tons of time, but I am not so sure about your partner."

He slid the knife down her face, leaving a small stream of blood in its trail.

Catherine kept her eyes cold to him, but the blood she could feel down her check stirred her nerves more.

"Drop your knife now or I'll shoot."

Ty and Catherine both turned around and saw Greg holding Catherine's gun. Ty failed to pick it up, figuring Greg was out for a while.

Greg had regained consciousness and saw Ty by Catherine hanging up the phone and threatening her. He looked around for something to use as a weapon. To his surprise he saw Catherine's gun an arms reach away from him. Even though he was in so much pain, he managed to make no sounds as he reached over with his tied hands and grabbed her gun.

He had never really held a gun before with purpose to shoot at a person until now, but he was not thinking clearly anymore due to the severe pain he was in. All he knew was he would do whatever it takes in order for him to not hurt Catherine. Then he saw Ty drag the knife down Catherine's face and that was when he acted. He could not bare the thought of anything happening to her. He steadied the gun in his two hands and aimed straight at Ty's back.

When Ty spun around in shock, he moved away from Catherine giving her a chance to scurry away from him. He did not bother with her, for now, he was too amused by Greg holding the gun. He started laughing at Greg. "Silly boy, you are too weak to hardly even hold that gun. Let me take that away from you before you hurt yourself."

He started to come towards Greg. Greg held the gun as steady as he could, his finger on the trigger. "Do not move any closer or I will shoot you." Greg said in a strangely calm voice.

Catherine had moved far enough away from Ty. She looked to Greg then. His face was pale and beaded with sweat. His hands were actually pretty steady for the condition he was in, but it was the empty look in his eyes that frightened her. His eyes always had so much life, now they just seemed dead.

Ty just grinned at Greg and moved closer to him. "I warned you," Greg said in a low voice. A shot fired off, hitting Ty in the shoulder.

Ty grabbed his shoulder, staring at Greg in shock. Catherine was also staring at him in shock, not realizing Greg knew how to shoot.

Ty's eyes burned with fury. He was going to kill Greg, no matter what deal he promised now. No one shot him.

Just as he was about to come at Greg, a voice boomed out from outside the door.

"This is Captain Jim Brass from the Las Vegas PD. We have the building surrounded. Give up the hostages and we will have Jessica released."

Ty slowly saw his control over the situation faltering. Greg had a gun on him and the kid was willing to shoot him. Catherine had gotten away from him and now stood away from him. To add to that the police were outside. He looked between Greg and Catherine. He needed to get to one to hold hostage again, but who would give him the least trouble. He looked at Catherine then he looked to Greg, who seemed to be looking worse every second. He decided to take his chances with Catherine, who was less armed.

Ty grinned at Catherine as he started walking towards her at a fast pace.

Greg had lost his focus when Brass' voice came through on the megaphone. He felt relief knowing finally someone else was coming to help them. He was feeling sick again as his whole body felt the drain of the blood loss. He was looking at Ty but his mind was not really registering what he was doing. It was not until he heard Catherine speak again that he did.

"Stay away from me," she yelled. Ty was going to take her hostage now. He stared at Ty and his gun discharged. He heard Catherine scream and he feared he hit her. Then he saw Ty turning around, glaring at Greg.

The next thing Greg saw was Ty limping towards him. Greg's vision started going blurry again feeling like he was about to black out. He tried to regain his focus on Ty but he was seeing multiple of him.

"You are going to die, boy." Ty had just about reached Greg with knife in hand when he heard the door burst open behind him and then the words "Freeze!"

Ty stood in front of Greg, who was breathing heavily and stared back at him with half lidded eyes. Ty wanted to finish off the miserable little punk. He made a sudden move towards Greg but stopped when he felt a bullet rip through his chest. He buckled down to his knees then fell sideways.

Catherine ran over to Greg. His eyes were closed now and he felt cold and clammy. He still clutched the gun though.

"Greg, it's Catherine. I'm here now. Everything is okay, you can give me the gun now." She ran her hand through his hair to let him know it was her.

He opened his eyes slightly and saw her. She looked like an angel to him.

Catherine laid her hands over the gun. "Let me have the gun, Greg." Greg loosened his grip on the gun and Catherine grabbed it immediately away from him.

"I'm so cold," he stuttered. She panicked hearing him say that and seeing as he was starting to close his eyes again.

She looked to Brass who had just come over. "Where are the paramedics?" He leaned down by them.

"They are almost here," he said while cutting both of their hands free.

He studied Greg a moment then realized Catherine's reason for panic. "I'll go find a blanket or something for him." He got up and went quickly out of the room.

"Greg, I need to lean you forward if you can. I need to see your injuries," she told him. He did not really respond. She moved him slightly and he made a pained groan. She gasped when she saw his blood soaked and ripped clothes on his back. She noticed two long slices down his back, one ending with an actual stab wound. Then there was the large stab wound in his right back shoulder.

Brass came back in with a blanket. "I got a blanket but the paramedics are here now." He noticed the fear on her face.

"How bad is he?"

She just shook her head, her eyes starting to water up. The paramedics came in and asked her to move aside. She got up and stood next to Brass. He looked at her.

"You'll need to get checked out too. That's a bad cut you got on your arm. Probably your face too." She looked down at her arm, forgetting her own injuries.

She waved him off. "I'll be fine. I'm just worried about Greg."

"They'll take care of him," he said as he put a reassuring hand on her back.

She looked over at Ty, who had been watched over by 3 uniformed officers. He was still alive, only because Brass knew where to shoot a man without killing him.

She had run for the door and opened it for Brass when Ty had turned his attention to Greg. She knew at the time Greg could not take on another attack and had seen how unsteady he had become. She was grateful Brass stopped Ty before he hurt Greg again.

Grissom had arrived on the scene and walked into the room. He saw the paramedics working on Greg. He went over where Brass and Catherine stood.

He saw the blood on Catherine's face, hands, and arm. "Are you okay? You need to be checked out too."

She glanced at Grissom. "My cuts are minor. Most of the blood on me is Greg's." They all looked over as the paramedics loaded Greg onto the stretcher. They had placed temporary bandages on his back to help stop the bleeding. He was laid on his side and they placed a blanket over him before strapping him to the stretcher.

"I'm going with him," Catherine said and followed behind the paramedics wheeling him out.

Grissom looked around the room. Another set of paramedics were working on Ty. Grissom's eyes went over to the bloody knife lying on the floor by a pool of blood by where Greg had been.

He put on some latex gloves and picked up the knife. He examined the blood on the knife and then stared at the blood on the ground and on the corner wall. He felt his anger unhitch a bit, as he well knew most of this blood was from his youngest CSI.

He bagged the knife then stood back up. He walked over to where the assailant was being put on a stretcher. He was still conscious.

Brass was already trying to question him. "Do you have a name?"

"Yeah, mind your own business." He sneered.

"You know once we get you processed we will know your name anyway," Brass reminded him.

"Fine. It's Tyler Renning. Ow!" He yelled as a paramedic attended to his leg wound. "Damn punk, hope he dies," he said as he rubbed his leg where Greg shot him the second time.

Grissom raised an eyebrow at Brass. "Greg shot him?"

"Apparently, except for the chest wound. Greg was holding onto Catherine's gun when I came in."

"Really?" Grissom seemed impressed suddenly. Then he turned his attention back to Tyler Renning.

"You better hope that he lives or you will be having to look out for your own life."

Tyler stated at the older man and could tell he was not joking around. He kept silent as they wheeled him out of the room.

Nick and Sara came in after Tyler was wheeled out. "What the hell happened here," Nick exclaimed as he saw the blood all over and had seen one ambulance drive off and another being loaded with Tyler.

Brass started filling them in on what he knew. He was going to have to question Catherine and Greg when he got a chance to find out more details.

"Is Greg going to be okay," Sara asked, concern filling her voice. Grissom responded with sincerity. "I'm not sure at this point."

Sara looked to Nick, who was equally upset. Everyone remained quiet until the sounds of the ambulance driving off stirred them.

"Was that the guy on the stretcher I saw on my way in here," Nick asked, his voice sounding tight.

"Yes that was him," Brass replied.

Grissom proceeded to tell Nick and Sara to start going over the scene again, knowing some was old from the original crime in the room.

Brass made sure a couple of his officers stayed on the door at the scene so nothing like what happened with Greg could happen again.

Grissom and Brass took off to Desert Palms Hospital to check up on Catherine and Greg.


	8. Chapter 8

They had let Catherine ride in the ambulance with Greg. He was unconscious but she held his hand anyway for her own comfort reasons.

She was still boggled on why he was so determined for her not to drop her gun and risk his own life by being so defiant. She thought that maybe because he had already suffered some and saw no other solution but for her to stay armed.

She stared at his handsome pale face. He had matured so much in the last 3 years since becoming a CSI and already suffered so much. She thought about how steady he had held the gun and how his aim was really right on. As far as she or anyone else knew he had never fired a gun before in his life, but he seemed very aware of what he was doing.

She had to admit she really did not know much about him personally. They had only found out he was an only child during his last incident. They knew where he grew up and what his education was, but that was about it. He had kept his personal life to himself.

Greg did not want to carry a gun, she knew. He always said there were too many people carrying them these days as it was. Catherine agreed to a point, but in their job she felt safer having one. She wondered if Greg would change his mind now about that after what happened.

They arrived at the hospital, where they took Greg away into surgery right away. A nurse took Catherine into an ER room to get stitches for her cuts. Only the one on her arm needed them. She just ended up with a bandage on her face.

They had just finished stitching her up when Brass and Grissom came in to see her.

"Hey, you up to telling us what exactly happened in that room," Brass asked her.

Catherine looked towards the door as if hoping the doctor would come through with news on Greg.

Grissom practically read her thoughts. "No word on Greg's condition yet. They will let us know when he is out."

Catherine gave Grissom a small smile. "Thanks." She looked at Brass then.

"Do you want me to start after you left?"

"Sounds like a good enough place for me."

She recapped how she left Greg alone in the room, with the door open while she questioned the motel personnel. She told them how she came back to the room and was suspicious of Greg not responding to her calls. Then she said how she came in and saw Greg being held at knifepoint. She remembered Greg looking scared and in pain.

"I could see that he was scared but also in pain. I noticed blood on his hands and at his feet. Then the suspect wanted me to drop my gun." She went on to explain what happened when Greg told her not to put the gun down.

"I don't understand why Greg was so willing to risk his own life for mine. I mean he basically gave Tyler every reason to kill him." Catherine shook her head, still not able to grasp why he would be so foolish.

"Who know what goes through that kid's head at times," Brass replied with a poor attempt to make her feel better.

"Well Greg has proven himself a few times now to be quite brave," Grissom said to her.

"Yeah the kid has a hero complex," Brass grinned.

Catherine released a small smile. "So it seems."

Grissom still could not get over the fact that Greg actually shot Tyler twice.

"Has Greg ever mentioned to you him being able to shoot a gun?" Grissom had to ask Catherine, because as far as he knew Greg never had.

"No, never. I am as shocked as you are."

A doctor came into the room. He was still in scrubs. "Are you Greg Sanders co-workers?"

"Yes," Grissom said, and then proceeded to introduce them.

"Well, Mr. Sanders is a very lucky man. The stab wounds did not hit any major organs. The biggest problem we had was his blood loss. He has had at least 2 pints replenished already…going on a third. He has some muscle damage to his back and shoulder areas and some nerve damage to his lower back, where the smaller stab wound occurred. He will need some time for recovery, but overall he should make a full recovery physically, after some therapy."

"When can we see him," Catherine asked eagerly.

The doctor looked at his watch. "Well give us another 45 minutes or so to get him settled into a room. He's going to be in ICU for at least a day or two due to the major blood loss he suffered and his weakened condition. So just go up to the nurses station up there and they will let you know what room he is in."

"Do you know anything about Tyler Renning," Brass asked the doctor.

"No, but I will get someone else to find out for you. Right now I need to get back. Take care."

Catherine breathed a sigh of relief knowing Greg would be okay. She did note how the doctor specifically said Greg would be fine physically, but no mention of mentally. She hoped he would remain as strong as he had during the ordeal itself.

Brass excused himself for a moment to make a phone call. Grissom read the still worried expression on Catherine's face.

"Greg is going to be fine. He's got a strong spirit."

She looked up at Grissom. "I know, but he was finally getting back to his goofy self after what happened to him last year. Now this happens."

"Well he has us to help him get through everything and if he needs counseling he will have access to that too." Grissom always had a calming affect on her. She felt better hearing the support offered.

Brass came back a couple minutes later. " I got word on our killer. He's going to live, unfortunately. We will be able to try to talk to him tomorrow they said. I have two uniforms on his door. I need to go back to the station. If you need me for anything you know how to reach me."

After Brass left, Grissom took Catherine to the cafeteria to grab something to eat, but all she did was pick at the salad she got. She couldn't stop thinking about Greg. She basically felt guilty about what happened to him. She should have never left him alone in that room.

They headed up to ICU and found out what room Greg had been placed in. The nurse told them that they would not be able to stay long. He was under heavy sedation and was not expected to wake up until the next morning.

Catherine did not care; she just wanted to see that he was safely resting in the hospital.

She went on ahead of Grissom into the room. Greg was lying on his left side in the bed, due to all the wounds on his back and right shoulder. He still looked very pale. She noticed he was still receiving blood through an IV along with a regular IV.

Seeing him in the hospital bed like that felt like déjà vu to her. It had been over 4 years since he had been in the lab explosion where he sustained some minor burns on his back. She had been responsible for that incident. She felt a tinge of guilt creep back into her mind. She wondered for a moment if that had been part of the reason he has been able to endure as much pain as he had to have been in after Ty first cut down his back. Greg had never talked about the scars that the burns had left on his back. They had been minor, but yet she knew he had to have had them.

Grissom came over, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"He's in good hands now. They'll make sure he is okay. He's just going to need time." Grissom just felt Catherine needed some kind of reassurance right then.

"Yeah I know." She looked at how peacefully he seemed to be now that he was in the drug induced sleep. She only hoped when he woke up he would be okay.

It was the eerie expression on his face when she tried to get the gun out of his hand that she still pictured in her head. She did not see Greg in his eyes at that moment. She only prayed that when he woke up again she did not see that empty look.

When Catherine finally made it home later that evening, she went into her Lindsay's bedroom. She had been worried about her mom, since her Grandmother Lily told her that she was involved in an incident at work.

"Mom, what happened to your face," Lindsay exclaimed when Catherine sat on the side of her bed.

"It's just a minor cut. I'm going to be fine. How was your day at school today?" Catherine did not want her daughter focusing on what happened to her.

"School was fine, but I am still not doing so well in Chemistry. I got a D on a test today."

Catherine frowned then remembered how Greg had offered to help Lindsay with her chemistry. The frown turned into a slight smile.

"Mom, what happened today? Grandma seemed rather upset but tried to hide it from me."

Catherine ran her hand over her daughter's hair. She seemed to be growing up so fast right before her eyes. She knew her daughter was old enough now to understand the things that could happen on her job. She just wanted to keep her sheltered from the horrors in the world, but some had already touched her. She sighed, resigning to tell her a little.

"You know about the serial killers case I've been working on with Greg, right?" Lindsay nodded her head. She knew mostly only of what the news said about it.

"Well today we were at another scene and I had to leave Greg alone in the room to collect evidence. He was taken hostage by the murderer who had staked the scene out. I came in and through a series of events was forced to give up my gun. But Greg managed to retrieve it and shot the suspect to distract him. Then Capt. Brass and officers came in and got him. Now both killers are in jail."

Lindsay knew there was more that her mom was not telling her. "What about Greg? I heard he was in the hospital."

Catherine felt a bit uneasy telling her about what happened to Greg. She decided to simplify things for Lindsay's sake.

"He was injured during the situation but he is going to be okay. He just needs a bit of recovery time."

Lindsay squinted her eyes suspiciously at her mom, but seeing as her mom was there with her safe, that was all that really mattered at the moment. She hugged her mom.

Catherine felt better having her daughter's loving arms around her. She smiled knowing she was still going to be around to see her grow up and she did have Greg to thank for that.


	9. Chapter 9

His body ached all over. He had been lying awake now for a couple minutes in the hospital bed. No one was there when he woke up and he felt an incredible fright at first, not recognizing his surroundings. But then the beeping of the machines and the pain in his back brought him to the realization he was in the hospital. It seemed to be daytime by the light filling the room.

He felt lonely just lying there alone in bed. He felt too weak to try to talk or move, so instead he stared blankly at the white wall across from him. In his mind he replayed what he remembered. The last thing he remembered was Ty coming towards him, telling him he was going to die then he remembered a gunshot. He was not sure if he had shot the gun or someone else had. He realized he did not know if Catherine was okay. Panic started to rise in him as he thought that Catherine could have been badly hurt or killed even.

He heard the door open to his room and looked to see a nurse come in. She had been monitoring his heart rate when it rose suddenly.

"Mr. Sanders, you are in the hospital. Everything is okay, no need to panic," she spoke to him softly, trying to calm him down.

"Catherine," was all he managed to say in a low hoarse whisper. His throat was so dry.

The nurse thought for a moment, trying to figure out whom he was asking for. Then she remembered the woman CSI who came in with him.

"Oh you are asking about Ms. Willows. She is fine. She is at home resting now, I believe. She was here last night with you, but you were still unconscious."

Greg closed his eyes in relief hearing she was okay.

"How is our patient, Kim," a male voice asked. Greg opened his eyes back up and saw an older doctor standing next to the nurse. He smiled at Greg when he saw him open his eyes.

"Nice to see you awake, Mr. Sanders. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I hurt all over," Greg managed to say weakly.

"Well, that is to be expected. We will increase your pain medication for now, so you do not feel so much pain. We have not contacted your family yet. Do you want us to do that now?"

Greg shook his head slightly. "No, not now, please."

"That is fine. We expect you to make a full recovery anyway, though you have some nerve and muscle damage which will require some physical therapy when you are ready."

Greg simply nodded in understanding. He was feeling extremely tired again. The doctor could see he was having trouble keeping his eyes open.

"We will let you get some more rest. You need a lot after the blood loss you suffered." He told the nurse to increase Greg's pain meds.

Greg drifted back to sleep with the help of the increase in the morphine drip in his I.V.

Even though Grissom had told Catherine to take the day off, she still joined Brass at the hospital to question Tyler Renning.

Catherine briefly stopped by Greg's room only to find out he had been awake but was now sleeping again.

Tyler Renning had one wrist cuffed to the bedside railing. He lay stoically in the bed as Brass and Catherine entered his room

"Mr. Renning, we'd like to ask you a few questions. You requested to have Jessica Myers released in exchange for our CSI's lives during the time you held them hostage. Is Jessica Myers your partner in the series of murders that took place in rural roadside motels in the past week?"

Tyler's eyes darted back and forth between Brass and Catherine before resting on Catherine.

"Jessie would have liked you. Yeah she would have enjoyed herself with you."

Catherine gave Brass a disgusted looking glance.

"So who picked out whom you killed, was it you or Jessie?"

Ty grunted. "We shared in the choosing. First night was my choice. Second was hers. It was like that. They all were so easily duped. So simple it was child's play."

"What made you still kill on your own without your partner," Catherine asked him.

Ty smirked. "It was all a set up to trap one of you cops and hold you hostage. I wanted you, Darling, but the smart-ass kid was left alone in the room, so I took my chances with him. He spotted me before I could drug him, so when he ran for the door, I had to stop him somehow. So I tossed my knife at him and that was it. Down he went and I had my hostage. Then you came around and he became difficult again. Stupid kid, I think he actually had a death wish the way he was tempting me." He grinned maliciously at Catherine.

Catherine fought hard not to slap that smug look off his face.

Brass saw that he was getting to Catherine. He changed back to Jessica. "Jessica is now claiming she does not know who you are."

"What!" Ty raged. "That little bitch turns her back on me now. If I am going down for these so is she. I only got caught trying to save her ass. She was the stupid ass bitch who got sloppy and got caught. Her and her damned drug use made her stupid at times."

Brass smiled at Catherine who returned the smile. The two killers were going to end up turning on each other, they hoped.

"So much for true love," Brass grinned at Tyler. Tyler tried to go at him but was held back by an officer. Brass and Catherine simply smirked and left him for the time being.

Nick and Sara walked into Greg's room. He opened his eyes as he heard people enter his room.

"Hey G, how are you doing," Nick said as he stood next to Sara who pulled up a chair.

"Better than yesterday." Greg gave them a strained smile.

"Yeah I bet. We are just glad to hear that you are going to be okay," Sara smiled at him, then added, "hey at least you are finally getting some much needed sleep."

Greg glared at her for a moment before breaking into a small grin.

Brass walked in with Catherine hanging behind him. "Hey guys, we need to talk to Greg about what happened. Can you excuse us? They only want two people in here at a time."

Greg nodded that it was okay for Nick and Sara to take off.

"We'll be by later on. Get better soon," Nick said as he left. Sara gave Greg's hand a squeeze before leaving herself.

Greg had not seen Catherine behind Brass when he first came in. Now he saw her and felt a wave of relief wash over him seeing her for himself that she was okay.

"Hey Greg. How are you feeling?" Brass was the one to ask him.

"Fine, I guess," Greg responded with little emotion. He glanced at Catherine, who merely smiled at him.

He noticed a bandage on her face and remembered seeing blood there when Ty had been by her. He remembered that being his reason to take a gun into his own hands again and deal with the situation. He had not thought he would ever be put in a situation again where he felt a need to handle a gun with purpose to use it to cause damage. He had been wrong. He swallowed back the memory and refocused on Brass who had asked him a question.

"I'm sorry can you repeat that again," he asked warily.

"Can you tell us what you were doing when you noticed Tyler Renning in the room?"

Greg sighed, dreading having to retell what happened, but he knew it was inevitable.

"I had found a diamond earring under the bed. I had just bagged it when I sensed someone in the room. I turned around and saw him with a syringe in his hand."

Greg went on to tell them how he managed to knock the syringe out only to be knocked back down and almost strangled before he kicked him off and ran for the door.

"I had my hand on the door to open it when I felt the knife hit me in my back. I lost my concentration and before I knew it he was slamming me against the door, then ripping the knife out of my back. I remember him dragging me across the floor by my arm. I gave him a hard time. He didn't enjoy that very much. Then we both heard Catherine calling my name. He quickly put the knife against my throat, telling me to keep quiet. Then Catherine came in and I assume you know the rest."

Greg had retold the events as emotionless as though he had seen it happen to someone else. Brass and Catherine both picked up on it but did not address it.

"I'd like to hear your side of the event though, Greg." Brass said to him.

Greg closed his eyes, feeling his chest tighten up with anxiety. "I'm really tired, guys. Can we continue this later on?" He looked at them both, and then fixed his eyes on Catherine, pleading with her.

She could sense he was not ready to go into further details yet. She spoke up before Brass could respond.

"Jim, his doctor told us we should not tire him out too much. I think it can wait until tomorrow."

Jim looked at her and sighed. "Yeah sure. Sorry Greg," he said turning back to the pale young man. "We can continue this tomorrow. You get better, okay?"

Greg feigned a smile at Brass. Brass satisfied, began to leave. He noticed Catherine not following him. "Catherine?"

She glanced at him. "I'll be just a couple minutes." He nodded okay and left her in the room with Greg.

Greg watched Catherine as she sat down in the chair by his bed. He really was tired now and he hoped Catherine was not going to ask him things he was not ready to answer.

"I'm glad to see you finally awake. I had been by earlier when you were asleep."

"Yeah, well I really am tired again and not sure how long I'll be awake for you." He shifted some on his side and she noticed him grimace from pain.

"I won't keep you long. I just wanted to have a chance to thank you."

Greg looked at her curiously. "Thank me for what?"

"For what? For thinking of me before yourself, although I still think you are crazy for doing what you did."

"What I said back there holds true. You have a family to think about," he replied unaffectedly.

"Your life is important too, Greg. Don't think that it is not," she said seriously to him.

He searched her face for a moment. _Did she think he was suicidal?_ "I don't think that."

She just gave a strange look.

He finally spoke up again. "Look I really am tired now. Can we continue whatever this is later?"

She gave in and sighed. "Yeah get some more rest. You need it. I'll see you tomorrow."

He gave her a faint smile before closing his eyes. He fell asleep almost immediately.

She remained seated there, watching him sleep. She only now noticed some bruising around his throat, most likely from where he said Tyler tried to strangle him. She felt another tinge of guilt rip through her before she decided to go back home to her daughter.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N-Just wanted to say I am having Greg go through the emotions of everything that has happened to him over the past year and more. _

_Thanks again for all the reviews. _

* * *

The following day Grissom joined Brass and Catherine in visiting Greg and finishing up his side of what happened.

Greg looked at them all and sighed. "I guess you want to hear the rest of what happened now."

"That would be correct, Greg." Grissom said, noticing the young man's reluctance.

"Okay, so where did we leave off yesterday," he asked looking towards Brass. He was avoiding eye contact with Catherine today because he felt weird after that conversation the night before.

"When Catherine came into the room," Brass replied.

Greg sighed again. He really did not feel like telling it. It was like reliving his risky stupidity in how he handled the whole situation, not to mention the horror of his back being cut into. Just thinking of it gave him chills. He took a deep breath to shake off the memory.

He began telling them the rest of what happened, but again telling it as detached as he could be from the situation. Even Grissom gave Catherine a concerning glance.

"Greg, I thought you hated guns," Grissom asked him.

Greg looked at him blankly. "Would you not defend yourself if you had the chance in a situation like that in anyway possible?"

Greg made a good point. "Drastic times call for drastic measures," Grissom replied with a raised eyebrow.

Greg simply nodded his head in agreement.

"Why were you so insistent on me keeping my gun and risking your own life?" Catherine had to ask him again, it was nagging her.

Greg finally looked at Catherine. His eyes showed some anger. "Did you not just hear what I told Grissom? I was trying to get you to defend yourself and not worry about me. I already told you this last night."

Brass raised his eyebrows at Grissom, who had turned to him doing the same thing. Brass then just shrugged his shoulders, having no clue what was going on between Greg and Catherine.

Catherine did not say anything, but her face showed agitation. It was so rare for Greg to get angry about anything, but she supposed after what he'd been through it was normal.

Brass broke the odd tension finally by speaking. "Well Greg, thanks for that. We will leave you alone now to get some rest."

Brass walked out ahead of Grissom and Catherine. Grissom stopped Catherine once they got our of Greg's room.

"What was that about?" He asked her.

She shook her head in frustration. "I don't know. He worries me is all."

"Why is that?"

Catherine sighed, running her hand through her hair. "He just seemed like he did not care about his life at all when we were back in that room. He made careless decisions in regards to his own life."

"So in other words, you do not appreciate him trying to save your life. You do not like it when someone tries to protect you." Grissom let a small grin pop on his face.

Catherine fumed. "That's not what I…" She glared at him. "Damn, I hate when you are right."

Grissom cocked an eyebrow. "Catherine, remember we are talking about Greg here. He's always doing things that take us by surprise."

Catherine ended up smirking to herself. "Yeah he does." She remembered him dancing in the showgirl's hat years prior. She smiled a bit and looked at Grissom.

"It just sucks that he has had to go through so much in such little time that he has been a CSI."

"Greg has proven to be a pretty strong person. I am sure he will get through this too, like everything else."

Catherine did not feel so sure. "I sure hope so."

Grissom laid a hand on her back. "It's only been a couple days since it happened. Give him sometime. You too. You keep acting like it only happened to him. You were there too."

"Yeah but he's the one in the hospital."

Grissom frowned. "But you saw in person what he went through, it's going to affect you too."

Catherine gazed off in the direction of Greg's room. "I know."

"Why don't you go home from the rest of today and spend it with your daughter, seeing as it is a Saturday."

She looked at him with hesitation.

"Do it. Supervisor's orders," he smirked.

Catherine took his advice and went back home to spend time with her daughter. By later on in the evening though Lindsay had plans to see a movie with friends, so Catherine was left alone with her mother, who she was not in the mood to discuss what happened with.

She still felt bad about how she left things with Greg. She was not sure why it bothered her so much, but she thought about it all day. She finally decided to make another trip to the hospital before visiting hours were over.

------

Greg had a visit from Warrick and Sara earlier. They did not stick around too long as they got paged on a new case.

Greg was glad since he had not been in much of a mood to talk since Brass, Grissom, and Catherine had left.

He was frustrated with himself more than anything for feeling the way he was feeling. She would think he was crazy if he told her the whole truth.

He tried shifting on his side to be more comfortable but only caused himself more pain shooting through his back. He cringed his face from the agony and decided to try not to move for a while again.

The doctor told him that tomorrow they would test how much his nerve damage affected his ability to walk. He was not paralyzed but the doctor told him he would have problems at first walking on his own. Just another thing he had to worry about.

His usual nurse, Nurse Wade, came in to change his bandages for the evening. He sat up on the side of the bed for her and got ready for another painful session.

Catherine got to the hospital and found out they had moved Greg out of ICU and into a regular room. They told her she could go in once the nurse had finished changing his bandages.

Greg was shifting; uncomfortably back to lying on his side when Catherine came in. She could tell he was in a lot of pain.

He did not notice her until she came right by his bedside. "Oh hey," he said to her, trying to ignore the pain he was in.

"Hi, sorry probably caught you at a bad time," she apologized, seeing as he grimaced in pain.

He shook his head. "Nah, it is okay. But I do not think I will be awake long. They just gave me my painkillers so they always knock me out pretty quickly."

"Yeah I understand. I just wanted to say I am sorry about earlier today. I just might not understand why you did what you did, but it was your choice. I am just glad you are going to be okay. You really scared me. I really thought you were going to get killed by him."

Greg smiled a bit, seeing how concerned she was. "You did not think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?"

She had to smile back at his response. "No, I guess not. But you really were taking risks that freaked me out."

His smile faded. He felt sort of bad now. He had not realized how much his choices affected her.

"Sorry, I guess I was a bit careless with my decisions, but I was not thinking completely clearly either with all the pain I was in. I just could not bare to see him hurt you too."

She grinned at him. "So you have to play the hero, of sorts, huh?"

He smiled sheepishly at her. "What's wrong with that? You were a beautiful damsel in distress."

Catherine blushed suddenly. She blamed his medication for his crazy talk, because otherwise it just made her feel awkward.

She finally responded. "There is nothing wrong with that I guess." She smiled bashfully at him. She noticed he was starting to have trouble keeping his eyes open. Gratefully, she took her chance to get away from the awkwardness of the moment.

"Well, looks like you are going to fall asleep any moment now, so I am going to go home now. I'll try to stop by tomorrow."

He still had a goofy smile on his face. "I'd like that. Goodnight then." He closed his eyes and was asleep before Catherine had her chance to say goodnight to him.

As she drove home, she could not help but start to question her feelings towards Greg. Why had she blushed so when he gave her a compliment? They had always flirted with each other; it was in both of their natures' to do it. She had to admit that since he became a CSI, she saw him differently; more mature and not as the kid she used to see him as. But she never blushed before around him. He was so much younger than her, but then she thought of Grissom and Sara and how their age difference was about the same and they still worked.

She shook her head. It was just silly. She could not have those kinds of feelings about Greg. She pushed it out of her mind for the time being.


	11. Chapter 11

Greg was becoming frustrated always in need of help even to use the bathroom. He was still too weak and in too much pain to do it on his own though. It had only been 5 days since he had been in the hospital, but he was growing extremely restless staying in one position in bed and not being able to move much without pain shooting through his back. This was definitely worse than when he was burned in the lab explosion.

He did not get visitors as much anymore since they all had work to do. When they did come by, they did not stay long.

He talked to his parents on the phone but did not tell them what happened to him or that he was in the hospital. He knew they would never let him get out of their sight again. He loved them dearly but they were still too overprotective of him, even though he was a grown man now.

He tried reading a book Sara had brought him but he just could not get into it. He would watch the television once in awhile, mostly news programs. He had not asked anyone about how the case was going, just as no one else asked him about what happened in that room since he last talked to Brass about it. There was a part of him that wanted to know if they had discovered the motive behind the killings, but the part of him that wanted to forget about it all together won out.

Nurse Wade came in with his dinner tray. She helped him sit up on the side of the bed and put the tray on the table in front of him. She gave him a stern look. "You need to eat tonight, no excuses."

He had not been eating much since they started giving him food to eat. He had no appetite and would sometimes throw up what he did eat.

He just rolled his eyes at the older woman.

"You'll never get your strength back if you do not eat."

"Fine, I will do my best." She left him be to eat his meal. It was ham with mashed potatoes and some red Jell-O. He just stared at it for the longest time before attempting to eat it.

He was picking at his mashed potatoes when Catherine came in. She was surprised to see him sitting up in bed.

"Hey Greg! Sorry they didn't tell me you were eating. I can come back later."

He looked up, grateful someone was there to distract him from his inability to eat anything.

"Hey no problem. I am not really that hungry anyways."

She looked at his tray of food. It looked like he only ate some mashed potatoes, but everything else looked untouched.

"Hospital food never is that appetizing, is it," she smiled at him. She noticed he did not smile back. He seemed very glum today.

"Yeah, it's not," he said quietly.

"Maybe I could sneak in some real food for you sometime."

"Yeah maybe," he said with no enthusiasm.

Catherine pulled up the chair to his bed. "What's wrong, Greg?" She was very concerned about him.

He raised his eyes to hers. A rare sadness showed in them. "I hate this, I really hate this."

She was not getting what he was exactly referring to. "What are you talking about Greg?"

He sighed, pushing his tray away angrily. "Just everything. Feeling helpless, being bored out of my mind here, the constant pain, everyone coming in to visit me walking around on pins and needles." He saw Catherine's surprised expression and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be dumping on you. You just happened to come at a bad time."

Catherine felt her heart tug at the emotion in his eyes. She reached her hand out and put it on his knee. "Greg, you have every right to feel the way you do."

He pushed her hand away. "Don't. Not now."

She was puzzled now. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to…"

"Coddle me? Is that what you were going to say?" His eyes showed anger now.

"I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought I would let you know someone is here for you." She exclaimed in defense.

"Yeah well you can't make the pain go away now, can you?" He said defiantly.

She was not sure how to respond to him. She did not know but something must have happened today to him that she was unaware of. That or just everything was suddenly getting to him.

"No Greg, I can't make the pain go away, but it will if you give it time."

"Yeah time, I got plenty of that now. But see the thing is it never really completely disappears. If it's not the pain itself, it is the memories of it."

"Are you having nightmares," she asked him cautiously.

"Would you care if I was? I mean no one cared before really. Everyone basically thought I was doing fine after I got beat up. Nobody seemed to really notice I wasn't sleeping at night. Oh and remember that explosion I was in? Oh yeah, you would, you caused it."

Catherine felt like she had just been hit in the gut. She was speechless.

Greg continued on his angry rant. "Yeah that!" He expressed at her mouth being agape. "No one ever asked me how I was dealing with that aftermath. Grissom only showed concern when he saw me shaking. You did not even notice when you asked me to run that paternity test for you. 'Crazy, goofy Greg will be fine no need to worry about him. He'll bounce back like he always does.' Well maybe not this time. Maybe this time he does not want to act like everything is okay!"

He was visibly shaking from the anger inside him and pain he was in. Catherine did not know what to say. She really just wanted to run out and cry. She was trying desperately to keep her emotions in.

His nurse came back into the room. She saw his tray of food hardly touched once again.

"Mr. Sanders, you promised me you would eat tonight."

Greg glared at her, his eyes dark. "So I lied, sue me. You would not be the first one to. Oh and I am sure they would settle out of court for you too. Who cares about someone who gets hurt on the job, not LVPD."

Nurse Wade was use to patients being angry at times. "We can force feed you if we have too." She then noticed he was shaking.

She glanced over at his visitor and noticed she seemed upset. She decided visiting hours were over.

"Um, Ms. Willows is it? I think visiting hours are about over. He needs to rest so if you do not mind." She motioned towards the door.

Catherine broke out of her shocked trance from staring at Greg, who did not look at her again. "Yeah sure." She got up and simply left the room without saying another word to Greg.

Nurse Wade looked at her patient who suddenly seemed very pale again. "Let me help you lie back down in bed." She came over to him and he pushed her off slightly.

"I can lay down myself for Pete's sake." He started to shift to bring his legs back into bed. He cursed out loud from the pain it caused him, but managed to do it himself. But once he was lying back down he felt completely worn out and like a total asshole. He lost it finally. Catherine was only trying to help him and he practically blamed her for everything. He would never forgive himself for making her feel the way he knew she had to be feeling now. He hated one more thing now, himself.

Catherine walked in a daze out of the hospital and to her car. It was not until she was in her car that she started crying. She sat in her car in the parking garage for at least 15 minutes before she finally wiped the tears from her eyes and headed to work.

She had to pull herself together before heading back for her first full shift since the incident. This was not how she imagined the evening starting out. She would not tell anyone about what happened though. It was between her and Greg now.

She drove to the lab, hoping to forget for a while what just happened.


	12. Chapter 12

Back at the Crime Lab, Catherine fully absorbed herself in her work. Tyler Renning had been let out of the hospital and moved to a jail infirmary. She was going to go with Brass when it was morning to question him and Jessica Myers again.

She found Nick and Sara in the conference room, going over crime scene photos.

"Hey Catherine, how's it going," Nick asked as he looked up from his work.

She faked a smile for them. "I'm fine. What are you two up to?"

"Oh we are just sorting through the crime scene photos from your case, comparing the ones Greg took before and ours from after."

"These are Greg's and these are ours." Sara said pointing to the appropriate sides of the table.

Catherine looked more closely at them. In the newer photos new areas of blood were on the door, where Greg had been slammed against it and the left corner wall, where he had been slumped against it. She could see him again, lying there unconscious and so pale. Then she thought of how pale he had become when she left him at the hospital in her state of shock. She remembered he was shaking too. She had to believe he did not mean most of what he said. He had to have been having some kind of breakdown finally after showing so little emotion after all that happened. She just hoped that was the explanation.

"Catherine? Catherine? Are you okay," Nick asked her after she seemed to zone out.

She looked up at him, surprised. "Sorry, I'm just thinking about what happened again. Seeing the photos brought it back."

"That's understandable. Heck, whenever I saw bugs for awhile after I was buried alive, I freaked out a bit."

That got Catherine thinking about what Greg had said. "Did Greg ever show any signs that he was having trouble sleeping or stuff like that after he was in the lab explosion or after he was beat up?"

Sara and Nick looked at each other. "I know he was a bit stressed out due to the trial but he never mentioned having any real problems to me," Sara said.

"Yeah same here. He seemed fine overall, except not exactly his usually cheerful-self," Nick answered. "Why do you ask?"

Catherine sighed. "He just does not seem to be dealing as well this time around."

"Well Catherine, he's been through hell pretty much in the last year. A person can only take so much before they crack a little. Believe me, I know," Nick said, pointing to himself.

"Did something happen when you visited him," Sara questioned Catherine.

"He was just a bit moody," Catherine simply stated. She was not going to get into it with anyone. It was really just between her and Greg.

Sara pursed her lips together, not really believing Catherine completely, but she was not there in that room that day so she was not one to say anything about it.

They dropped the subject altogether as Grissom came into the room.

"Hey I got some bad news or good news considering how you take it," he started off saying.

"Well what is it," Sara asked him.

"Jessica Myers was found dead in her cell this morning. Doc Robbins is getting her body now. We do not have cause of death yet. No signs of anything at this point."

Catherine frowned. "We never got her to talk either."

Grissom shook his head. "No, so we will have to try to get more out of Tyler Renning now."

"Well I am meeting Brass later on to question him some more. I am curious how he will react to her death. Maybe he will open up more."

"Or blame everything on her. She probably did him a favor," Sara said.

"Yeah he could try to pull that. Either way hopefully we will get more info out of him on how they picked their victims and why they did what they did." Catherine then asked Nick about what he found in Tyler's truck.

They had discovered his truck parked behind some bushes about one mile away from the motel. Nick had been the one to go through it.

"Well I found their bag of goodies behind the passenger seat. I found some matchbooks from various bars and pool halls in a side pocket in the bag. Right now Warrick is with Detective Vega going to those establishments, seeing if anyone recognizes our vics or our killers."

Sara interrupted. "We found a pool stick case in the bed of the truck. The pool stick was missing, however."

"Have we found out where they were staying yet," Grissom asked them.

"No, it seems they moved around. If they had one place where they stayed we have not found out yet."

Nick went back to what he found in the bag. He told them he found a bottle of bleach and several stained towels along with a vial of Midazolam and a few syringes. There was also another bowie knife and then a serrated edged cutting knife.

"Prints on those knives matched Jessica's."

"So then apparently Jessica cut up the female vics and Tyler did the male victims." Catherine remembered how Tyler had cut Greg then licked his blood off the knife. She shivered at the memory.

Grissom noticed her paled expression. "Catherine, something wrong?"

She glanced his way, wishing he had not noticed. "Just a memory."

They all kind of looked at her with some apathy. Now she knew how Greg must have felt and she knew she had been guilty of giving him the same look everyone was giving her now.

"I'm fine, seriously. Can we move on now?"

Sara, Nick and Grissom all gave each other surprised expressions. They decided to leave it alone and carried on going over the crime scene photos again.

------------------------------

Greg woke up in the middle of the night feeling nauseous and shivering cold. He had to use the bathroom. He tried sitting up in bed but only managed to have his head start spinning. He had not felt this bad earlier. He pushed the button to call a nurse for help. He just prayed Nurse Wade was off shift. She already made his life feel miserable enough that night.

About a minute later a male nurse, by the name of Max, came in. Greg had met him before. He helped Greg walk to the bathroom.

On the short walk back from it, Greg felt like he might pass out. The pain in his lower back was excruciating.

Max noticed his lower bandage was soaked in blood.

He made Greg lay down on his stomach back in his bed. "I'll be back with the doctor," he told him.

Greg did not know what was going on. All he knew was that he was sick to his stomach, cold and sweating, and the pain he was in had something to do with it. Something was wrong. He pushed himself too much when they warned him to take it easy.

He had his head buried in his pillow when he heard the doctor come in. "Mr. Sanders, Dr. Maddox here. What is going on? How do you feel?"

Greg could feel the doctor prodding his back while Max was taking his temperature.

"I feel sick to my stomach and I'm in a lot of pain," he mumbled through the pillow.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Max conversing with Dr. Maddox. They both looked pretty serious.

"Mr. Sanders, it looks like you have an infection here from your lower back stab wound. I'm going to prepare a room so we can examine and cleanse the wound again. In addition, I am going to start you on antibiotics and I will increase your pain medication."

Greg squeezed his eyes shut against the tears threatening to come on. Things suddenly felt like they were going from bad to worse for him. First his blow up at Catherine, a woman he never wanted to hurt and now instead of getting better, he had some sort of infection making him sicker.

He was only glad when he saw Max coming with the syringe he knew would soon be putting him out of his misery temporarily.


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N-Thanks again for all your reviews. I really appreciate them. _

* * *

It was 8 am and Brass and Catherine were at the jail infirmary waiting to go in and see Tyler Renning.

A guard came out to meet them. "You can go in and talk to him now."

Tyler was sitting up in bed. He had a smug expression on his face. No one had told him about Jessica Myers yet.

"So Tyler, hope you are ready for some news today," Brass said to him in his sarcastic tone.

"What? Am I being set free?"

"In your dreams, Buddy," Catherine smirked.

"How's the little punk," Tyler grinned maliciously at her.

"Still in the hospital, no thanks to you," Brass responded before Catherine could. "But let's move on to the news I have for you. You know your girlfriend, Jessica Myers, well she was found dead in her jail cell today."

Tyler's grin fell from his face. "What? No, you are lying to me. Trying to trick me."

Catherine produced a couple photos of Jessica's body. Doc Robbins had given them her cause of death as a stroke. She had been a heavy Meth user.

Tyler studied the photos in disbelief. It was the first time Catherine had seen the man show vulnerability.

Staring at the photos of her, he simply asked "how?"

"She died of a stroke. Guess her years of drug use caught up with her." Brass grinned.

Tyler's eyes burned with fury. "Don't you be smiling about her death. She was a good woman. Not like this bitch here. Jessica would have made you beg for your life."

Catherine and Brass exchanged amused expressions.

"Did Jessica like to take control of the women like you like to control the men?"

"Jessie would show them what a real woman could take, but none of them could take it like she could."

"So who used the pool stick," Catherine decided to try asking.

"That was Jessie's thing. My girl has…had one twisted mind, but that's why I loved her." He looked down at the photos again. Then he looked back at them.

"She didn't tell you anything, did she? She kept her mouth shut like I knew she would have. My girl would have never given me up. Now you are trying to use her death to get me to talk. I'm not going to say another word."

Brass just smiled. "You don't have to. We already have plenty on you to go for the death penalty. We were just looking to fill in the blanks."

"I'm not giving you anything more," Tyler huffed.

"That's fine. We will be on our way now." Brass and Catherine left Tyler furious and trying to break free of his restraints in anger.

Outside his room, Brass smiled at Catherine. "Well that went well."

She grinned along with him. "Better than I expected first time around."

"Another shift ending on a good note. I like days like these," Brass said.

Catherine smiled. She felt better than she had when she first started her shift. Now she could go home and see her daughter for a few hours.

----------------------------

Greg was on his side in the hospital bed. He stared blankly at the wall across from him while the doctor examined his back wound again.

"Well the swelling has come down a bit, but it's nowhere near where I would like it to be. I'm going to up your antibiotic intake."

"Okay." Greg simply responded. The new painkillers were at least working well enough now that he hardly felt any pain.

Then the doctor left and he was alone again in the room. The day before no one had come to visit him. Nick had called and apologized for not being able to make it, but he had errands he had to run between shifts and sleeping. The others not stopping by did not surprise him. Warrick, Sara, and Grissom only came every other day, usually.

The one person who had not come that he had small hope would, did not- Catherine. She had been there everyday until he yelled at her and blamed her for his problems. He felt empty inside since she walked out that night without a word.

He knew he probably blew any chances he might have ever had to be close to her.

Whenever Nurse Wade came in with his food now, he ate all the food only to end up throwing most of it up later. The current painkillers he was on now worked on the pain, but made him sick. He felt drained all the time. But either he dealt with the pain or he lived with getting sick most of the time.

After seeing him throw up his food yet again, they changed his medication again. This time around he seemed to be able to eat some food, although he only ate so the nurses would not yell him at anymore. He still really did not have much of an appetite.

Greg was staring into space again when Nick and Warrick came in to visit him right after their shift.

"Hey G! How's it going? Are you going to be let out of here soon," Nick asked him as he pulled a chair up.

Greg had not told anyone about the infection yet. "Hi. No, I'm stuck here awhile yet." He looked dejected.

Nick noticed he seemed really depressed. "Why? What's wrong?"

Greg let out a tired sigh. "My lower back wound got infected. I'm on mega antibiotics now and they had to change my painkillers because they were making me sick to my stomach. Now I just feel worn down."

Nick did notice Greg seemed a lot thinner in his face and he also had dark circles under his eyes.

"That sucks, man. So how much longer do you think you will have to be in here?" Warrick asked him.

"I don't know. Not until the infection is cleared up I guess, but even when I am released from here, I still have to go through some physical therapy. I'll be lucky if I have a job to go back to after all the time I am sure to miss."

"Of course you'll have a job to go back to. Grissom would never take that away from you."

"Yeah besides it is work related, your injuries. They would not dare take your job from you," Warrick added to Nick's sentiments.

Greg looked away from them. "Yeah but they look out for their own needs before someone like me. Look at how they settled my civil case out of court, basically making me look like the guilty party. Who says they couldn't turn this situation around on me?"

Nick and Warrick just stared at each other, both thinking the same thing; it was not good that Greg was seeing the negative side of things. That was not like him.

"Greg, that's not going to happen, Tyler Renning is guilty as sin. You did nothing wrong at all here," Nick said, hoping Greg would look their way again.

Greg replied with a simple "Yeah." Then he finally turned his dark eyes to Nick.

"Look I am really tired. These meds knock me out. Is that okay with you two?"

"Yeah sure, G."

"Yeah you just get better, Greg. We miss you on the job." Warrick tried to make him feel better, but it did not seem to work.

Greg tried to smile but failed miserably.

Out in the hallway Nick and Warrick looked at each other.

"He's in bad shape."

"Yeah he sure is. Well it does not help he can only lay in one position all the time and has not much else to do in that room."

Nick got an idea. "Hey I think I will stop by his place tomorrow and grab his iPod and bring him my PSP. At least he can listen to his tunes and play some video games while laying in bed."

"Good idea, Nick."

It was mid-shift when Nick finally saw Catherine and Grissom who had been out on a crime scene when he and Warrick got in.

"Hey, have either of you had a chance to see Greg lately?"

Grissom answered no and Catherine just shook her head.

"Why," Grissom asked Nick.

"Well Warrick and I saw him after our shift yesterday and he was really down. Turns out he's going to be there longer than we thought. He's got an infection from his lower stab wound. He's pretty miserable. I was going to take him his iPod and my PSP today but I haven't had a chance to stop by and do not think I will."

Catherine admitted to herself that she felt bad about not seeing him since his meltdown, as she preferred to call it now. Now hearing he had suffered a setback in his recovery made her feel worse. No matter how much his words hurt her, he did not deserve this. She felt the pull of guilt at her heart again.

"I can drop them off. I planned on seeing him later on anyway," Grissom told Nick.

"Thanks. I know he will appreciate it."

After Nick walked away, Grissom noticed Catherine staring off into space.

"Did you want to come with me to see him?"

Catherine looked at Grissom. "Uh, no. I will see him later on though."

"Okay, well I'm going to drop off the bullets from our scene with Bobby," he said to her.

"Yeah, I'll drop off the stuff for DNA and Trace," she replied and then walked off.

She walked into the Trace Lab with a distant expression on her face.

"You got something for me," Hodges asked her. When she did not respond right away he tried again.

"Earth to Catherine Willows, do you have something to give me?"

Catherine broke out of her thoughts about Greg and faced Hodges. "I'm sorry. Yeah I need to find out what these substances are." She placed two small envelopes in his hands.

"I wonder who you were thinking about so intently," Hodges smirked.

Catherine looked wide-eyed at him. "Who? Who said it was a who?"

"Hmmm, a very concerned look on your face. Same look you've been carrying around here since you and Greg were taken hostage. Now I hear Greg is going to be laid up in that hospital even longer now. I am assuming you just heard the news too. You must be really worried about the guy. God only knows why."

Catherine glowered at him. "Just find out what those substances are, okay?" She turned on her heel and stormed off.

Hodges held up his palms in defense. "I just am an observant person," he yelled after her, with a smirk on his face.


	14. Chapter 14

Grissom walked into Greg's room. It seemed like Greg was asleep but the nurse had said he had just finished his breakfast, so Grissom assumed he was just resting.

"Greg?" Greg opened his eyes and looked at Grissom.

"Grissom, I wasn't expecting anyone now."

"I had to come by the hospital anyway to talk to a victim of a shooting, so since I was here I thought I would visit and see how you are doing."

"Oh I see." _So just because he was here he figured he would stop in and see poor Greg._

Grissom noticed the sour expression on Greg's face and realized what he said did not come out the way he wanted. He decided to give him the stuff Nick asked to drop off.

"Nick can't make it by today but he asked me to give you these." Greg had not seen the two items Grissom carried in.

His eyes lit up a little bit seeing the iPod and the PSP. "Thanks, tell Nick thanks too. This will help bide my time here some." He took the two items and placed them on his side table.

Grissom noticed that Greg's appearance had not improved since he saw him a couple days ago. If anything he looked worse.

"I hear you got an infection now. Is that true?"

Greg nodded his head slightly. "Yeah the one on my lower back got infected, but I'm on antibiotics for it now. Means more time here though." Greg's expression was very solemn.

"It's got to be hard, but you want to make a full recovery, right?"

"Yeah I guess," Greg responded sheepishly.

Grissom could now understand why Nick said he was worried about Greg. He had never seen Greg so despondent before. Perhaps some news about his case would make him feel better.

"Did anyone tell you that Jessica Myers died of a stroke in her jail cell? She was a heavy Meth user."

Greg looked a bit surprised. "Really? Did she give any more information before she bit the dust?"

"No, she kept quiet until the very end, but Tyler has given us some more details. It seems she was the one who used the pool stick in the sexual assaults. He said he loved her twisted mind, that why they get along so well. They both seemed to take a lot of pleasure in their activities."

Grissom had not needed to remind Greg of that. He was living proof of Tyler's pleasure in torturing people. Greg shifted uncomfortably then responded.

"Yeah I know."

Grissom felt like he had foot-in-mouth disease today. "I'm sorry Greg. I don't mean to be insensitive to you."

Greg had to smirk at that. Grissom had never been known to be sensitive too much of anything.

"It's okay. It's just you being you, Grissom."

Grissom was not sure if that was a compliment or an insult. He decided to just let it be, since it was coming from Greg, after all.

"So did they give you a time frame of when you might be back on your feet again," Grissom decided to ask him.

Greg felt dread take over him again. "I'm not sure, but from what they say it will not be anytime soon." He stared at Grissom. "Is that going to be a problem?" He asked Grissom cautiously.

Grissom raised an eyebrow. "Are you expecting one?"

"Uh, well what if I am not like 100?"

Grissom could read the worry in Greg's eyes. "Even if you are not back 100, you will still have a job, Greg. I personally will see to it. You just might have to do desk duty like you did before."

Greg felt better hearing it come from Grissom. "Okay, thanks."

"Have you thought about seeking some counseling, Greg?"

Greg felt blindsided. "What? What for?"

"You know why, Greg." Grissom stated matter of factly to him.

Greg became defensive. "You think I need help? You think I am having nightmares or something? That I can't deal with what happened?" Greg was lying to Grissom and himself though. He had started having nightmares and he was having problems dealing, more like he was not dealing at all with what happened.

Grissom seemed amused by Greg's reaction. "Greg, you only have to realize that you just proved my point by your reaction. You know you would not normally blow up at me like that. I have never known you to be that way."

Greg's expression became a look of defeat. He gazed down at the floor, feeling like total crap again.

"Greg, I just suggest you talk to someone about what's going on with you, that's all I'm saying."

"Yeah okay," he sighed.

"I have faith that you're going to get through all this, Greg." Grissom watched his youngest CSI nod his head like a little boy being scolded by his dad.

"I need to go now. If you need me for anything, you know you can call me."

Greg just nodded his head again looking at Grissom this time. He broke down in front of Grissom last time he was in the hospital, he did not want to do it again. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Greg. I'll be by again when I can. Just remember what I said."

"I will."

After Grissom left, Greg felt tears threatening to escape from his eyes again. He grabbed his iPod and put on some Radiohead. He closed his eyes and absorbed himself into his music, drowning out everything else for now.

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Catherine had taken Lindsay to her dance class and then her friend's mother was picking her up after class and she was going to stay at her place. So Catherine had a couple hours before shift began to try to finally brave seeing Greg again.

She walked up to his door and hesitated a moment before going in. She opened the door and he did not stir. Then she noticed he had his earphones in his ears, listening to his music she presumed. She walked over to him and noticed now his eyes were closed. Even with his eyes closed he looked unwell. The infection must have really taken its toll on him.

She felt an overwhelming pull at her heart again as she gazed at him still lying in the hospital bed on his side after 8 days now. She collected her thoughts and said his name. He did not respond.

This time she touched his arm lightly and said his name.

He opened his big brown eyes suddenly and then quickly pulled out his earphones once he saw it was Catherine. He turned off his iPod.

"Catherine, I was not expecting you." She could swear she saw a bit of fright in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm a bit surprised I am here as well after the last time."

She immediately noticed Greg's expression fall as he lowered his eyes.

"I don't know how to apologize for what I said to you. I was out of line and I think partially out of my mind."

Catherine had to smile at the last remark. "I think most people think you are out of your mind all the time."

Greg did not even crack part of a smile at that.

"Grissom came by earlier. I sort of blew up at him too," Greg said to his chagrin.

Catherine did not say anything so he continued.

"He thinks I need help, that I need to talk to someone about what happened. The problem is I can't talk to a stranger about it. They simply won't understand unless they have been through it their self." He turned his sad eyes to Catherine.

She was listening and she knew what he was getting at. He wanted to talk to her about it. She finally took a seat. She could not stay mad at him when she could see he was suffering so much. The only thing was she was not sure she was comfortable being the one he wanted to open up to.

"I hear you had a set back in your recovery." She decided to skirt the issue temporarily.

Greg took it as reluctance when she avoided the issue. "Yeah, my lower back, where I was stabbed got infected. I'm on heavy duty antibiotics."

"How's it doing now?"

Greg sighed heavily. "It's not healing fast if that is what you are asking. Only good thing is I am on a pain med that does not make me sick anymore."

"It was making you sick?" She had not heard about that.

"I finally started eating, but then I would toss it up anyway. I was in bad shape for a day or two. I don't know. I am starting to loose track of time being stuck in here." He lowered his eyes again, not looking at Catherine. He was starting to feel the anxiety build up in him again.

Catherine hated how things were not going well for him. She pretty much forgot about the horrible things he had said to her the other day. She now really believed he had suffered enough already and did not need her to be holding that against him too. But before she could say anything Greg spoke again.

"Catherine, I am truly so sorry about the other day. I really do not blame you for what happened to me and I can't expect everyone to know how I feel about things when I keep them hidden. I've had so much time to think here and the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt your feelings." He was staring at her now.

She could see the melancholy look in his eyes. She hated that he seemed so down on everything that was so unlike Greg.

"Greg, I forgive you. I now know you did not mean all those things you said. I hate seeing you in so much pain emotionally. It's not like you. If you need to talk to me, talk."

Now it was Greg who was reluctant to open up. He was so confused with his feelings towards Catherine that he was not sure if opening up to her would have been the greatest idea or not.

Luckily Nurse Wade coming in with his dinner saved him.

"Oh sorry, I did not realize you had company." She recognized Catherine from the other day, but noticed things did not seem strained between them like it had last time.

"I can come back later with your meal, if you like."

Catherine looked at Greg a moment. She could see his hesitation. "No, that's okay. I do not mind if he eats while I am here. Greg?" She glanced back at him.

Greg looked at Catherine. "I am kind of hungry."

"Well, if that's the case here you go." Nurse Wade placed the tray on his table. She watched him as he sat up on the side of his bed to make sure he had no problems. Once she was satisfied that he seemed okay, she left Catherine and him alone again.

"I always seem to come at a bad time." Catherine frowned as Greg looked at his dinner for the night. It appeared to be turkey with mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn.

"I think I had this two days ago," Greg sighed.

Catherine grinned at his dismal expression.

"Getting sick of the food, huh," she said with a questioning tone. He nodded.

"Maybe next time I come around I'll bring some real food for you."

Greg's eyes lit up some at that. "That would be heavenly. You said before you would but you know…" He trailed off thinking of all the horrible things he said to her again.

"I know and it does not matter anymore." She said to him.

"Thanks, you know, for like everything," he said to her as he gazed at her intensely.

She felt her cheeks redden a bit under his gaze. "You're welcome. You know we all care about you, Greg."

Greg hesitated a moment, still staring at her, before responding. "Some maybe more than others."

At first she thought he was saying some did not care much, but then by the look in his eyes she realized his true meaning. He could read her that well and it took her by surprise. "Perhaps," she responded.

She saw a slight smile on his face as he lowered his head. She realized that the feelings might be mutual. She slightly shook her head thinking how crazy all this was. She just simply came here to talk to Greg and it was turning into something she was not ready to deal with yet.


	15. Chapter 15

"Your food is going to get cold if you do not start eating it soon"

Greg raised his head, glancing at his food.

"Yeah I suppose I should. Are you sure you do not mind?"

"No not at all. Want to hear how our interview went with Tyler?"

Greg picked at his food, his demeanor becoming more sullen. "Um, I guess."

She noticed this. She thought he would be interested to hear what Tyler had to say, but maybe it brought him back to that day too much. "I don't have to if you do not want to right now."

He shook his head, but not looking at her now. "It's fine. Go ahead, what did he have to say?"

She went ahead and told him pretty much word for word what Tyler told them.

Greg was only half listening. He tried focusing on eating his food more so than anything. He did not like hearing how much pleasure Ty took in slicing a person up. Greg had enough experience with it to know first hand. He only found the parts about Jessica's involvement interesting.

Catherine noticed Greg's non-responsiveness to what she was telling him about Tyler. She began to wonder if she should have ever told him any of it.

"Greg, what's going on in that head of yours," she finally asked him after a couple minutes where all he did is mumbling that he was paying attention.

He glanced up at her from his half empty tray. "What do you mean?"

"You said you were okay with me telling you about Tyler, but you have not spoken a word in response to what I told you. If it bothers you to hear about it, why did you let me tell you about it?"

He sighed. "I was going to hear it at some point, so I might as well get it over with now. It does not mean I am ready to react to it."

Catherine now understood. "You rather not think about it at all. You've been having nightmares, haven't you?"

He scowled, he hated to admit it to anyone, but Catherine would understand. "Yes, they started a couple days ago. It seems the more I hear about Tyler and Jessica's plans, the more my mind likes to twist my dreams up."

"So why did you have me tell you?" Sympathy in her eyes as she asked him.

"Like I said I would have heard about it at some point. What's the point of prolonging the inevitable?"

Since Greg was finally opening up honestly, Catherine decided to do the same with him.

"Well you are not the only one to have some nightmares. I have had a couple too."

Greg was not sure if she was telling the truth or just saying it, hoping to make him feel better.

"Yeah really?"

"Yes, I have. They seem to be getting more frequent. Perhaps because I've been worried about you."

"Have you now? Even after what I had said to you before?"

"Of course I have. I was hurt by it, I will admit, but I still care about your well being." She could not believe she was telling him all this.

He finally broke into one of his famous grins. "It's nice to know I can be a total jerk and still be liked."

"Well I guess I took into consideration what you've been through and the meds you were on. But I have to admit, what you said about the lab explosion really did hurt. I thought you were past that."

Greg's smile dropped, then he sighed. "I guess I am…wait no I am past that. I did and still do not blame you for the explosion. It was an honest mistake and I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Catherine nodded her head slightly, and then asked him about this time. "What about this time around? Do you blame me for leaving you alone?"

Greg's eyes expressed shock. "No, not at all. It is not the first time I've been left alone for a few minutes. It's just the first time something happened. It could have been you just as easily and I am glad it was not."

She frowned a bit. "Is that some sort of macho thing, saying I could not have handled it?"

"No, I just never want to see you hurt, that is all. I already told you that."

Catherine gazed at him for a moment. "Yeah I guess I am just starting to get that now."

It was Greg's turn now to feel himself blush a bit. He quickly lowered his head, trying to act like he was taking another try at his food.

Catherine looked at her watch. She had to get going soon. She did not want to leave yet because she still felt like a lot of things were left unsaid, but it was not like Greg was going anywhere soon.

She watched him picking at his food, but noticed he was not really eating it. Maybe once she left he would eat.

"Greg, I need to go now. I have to get to work."

He looked at her, some disappointment written on his face. "Oh, yeah. I guess it is around that time now, isn't it?"

She felt bad but she really did have to go. "I'm sorry. I promise to stop by tomorrow again. Just get some more rest, you need it."

He nodded his head. "I'm trying."

She smiled sweetly at him. "I know you are. Things will get better soon. At least our case is pretty much wrapped up."

"Yes, I guess that is good that he is behind bars now."

Catherine could still hear the uneasiness in his voice as he mentioned Tyler.

"Well, take care. I'll see you tomorrow." She gave him a big smile before she left him alone in his hospital room.

He had enough of his food and pushed his try away. He lay back down on his side in bed. He rubbed his right shoulder. That was the one wound that seemed to be healing properly, but it still ached at times.

He lay there thinking about Catherine, grateful she was able to forgive him for all the terrible things he had said. He felt better now knowing she did not hate him. He grinned to himself thinking that maybe someday he might have a chance with her after all.

He soon fell asleep thinking good thoughts for a change since he had been in the hospital.

A couple days had gone by and Greg's infection was finally about gone. Catherine had stopped by each evening before her shift and brought him take out food from a couple of his favorite eateries. He started feeling much better after eating real food again.

When she was there, they both managed to skirt the issue of what had happened back in that motel room. Instead she talked about her current cases and what the others were up to at work.

Everyone else had stopped by too, for short visits. They all noticed his spirits seemed to be better in more recent days.

Dr. Maddox came in to check up on Greg's progress again. "So how are you feeling today?"

"Better I guess," Greg shrugged as he sat up in bed for the doctor to examine his back again. "Do you think I can get out of here soon? Two weeks is too long to be trapped in here."

The doctor laughed. "Well actually I just wanted to double check on your wound and make sure it was still doing fine, which it is and seeing as it's nearly all healed from the infection, I can safely say you can probably be out of here in two days."

Greg breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally!"

Dr. Maddox came around and took the seat across from Greg. "Now you'll be able to get out of here, but you and I both know you are still having trouble getting around on your own, plus you'll need to go through some physical therapy for your shoulder and to get back to being able to walk normally. Do you have anyone who can stay with you while you recover at home, say like your family or a friend?"

Greg's happiness about being released diminished some now. "Well, I'd have to find out about that."

"That's why I am giving you a couple days to make arrangements. You can't be on your own for the first couple weeks. I can't have you getting an infection again or something else by overdoing it on your own."

There was a knock on the room's door. Both Dr. Maddox and Greg looked to see who it was. Catherine peeked her head in. "Did I come at a bad time?"

Dr. Maddox stood up. "No, I was just telling Greg here that he can get out of here the day after next, but he will need someone to be with him. He has sometime to work it out, though."

He turned back to Greg. "I'll check in with you again tomorrow and see if you have a decision yet. Otherwise, things are looking good. We just can't have you overdoing it."

The doctor nodded his head at Catherine as he walked past her, out the door.

Catherine came over and took a seat. "That's great, Greg. You are finally going to get out of here."

Greg nodded, but did not seem as enthused as she expected him to be.

"What's wrong," she asked him.

He sighed, looking away for a moment then looking at her. "Well, like he said I need to have someone stay with me or something like that. I don't know what to do."

"What about your parents? I am sure they would take care of you."

Greg shook his head. "No! I think I would rather be here. I have not even told them about what happened. They totally freaked out when I was beaten. If my mom found out about this and had the chance she would kidnap me, lock me up and never let me out of her sight again."

Catherine smiled at his extreme explanation. "They can't be that bad."

"Oh yes they can be. No, I just can't even mention this to them until I am completely better. I can't think of anyone who might be able to stay with me though. I'll want to jump off the bridge if I have my parents do it. I don't know what to do."

Catherine thought for a moment. "You could stay at my home."

Greg's eyes opened wide in surprise. "What? Your place? No, you work all day and Lindsay. No, it would be weird."

"Wait Greg, hear me out. My mother is there most of the time, mostly to be there for Lindsay, but she could help you when I am not there. And Lindsay could really use your help with her in Chemistry. Remember, you offered." She was grinning at him,

Greg rolled his eyes. "Pulling the Lindsay card is harsh. But still it does not seem right, me living with you."

"Greg, it would just be temporary until the Doctor says you are fine to be on your own again. At least think about it. You still have a day to wait yet anyway."

"Fine, I will think about it." Then he lowered his voice and stared at her. "Did you bring what I asked you for?"

Catherine grinned. She picked up a bag she carried in with her and pulled out a smaller paper bag. She placed it on his table.

"Here, just what you asked for."

Greg pulled the contents out of the bag and grinned ear to ear. Then he looked at her, his eyes beaming. "You truly are an angel."

She laughed off her blushing. "Come on now, its only food."

"No, it's Mr. Chan's Chinese food. I've been dying for this stuff for the last two weeks now." He started opening up the boxes and digging into the food.

"Well at least you have been eating again. That's good to see. I was getting worried about you again."

Greg glanced at her. "You need to stop worrying about me. You are reminding me too much of my…" He stopped short of saying 'mother' because he did not want that image in either of their heads.

She broke into a grin, knowing what he was going to say. It was true, she had been sort of mothering him the last couple days, but she noticed how much happier he had been, so if it was helping him feel better, she would continue doing it.

"I can't stay long today. I have to go in early to have a meeting with Ecklie. So think about my offer and let me know tomorrow."

"Okay, I will let you know. Good luck with Ecklie. See you tomorrow." Greg smiled admiringly at her as she walked out the door.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N--Thanks for all the reviews. Glad you all are enjoying the story.

* * *

Catherine walked into Ecklie's office. His shifty eyes focused on her. "Catherine, come in and take a seat." 

Catherine sat down. "What's this about, Ecklie?"

Ecklie posed a smile on his face. "I wanted to talk to you in person and see how you were doing after what happened in the Tyler Renning and Jessica Myers case."

Catherine smiled pleasantly at him. "Why I am doing fine, Conrad. It's nice to know you care."

Ecklie smirked at her. "I hear you have been visiting Greg Sanders on a daily basis. How's he doing?"

She knew what he was doing now. He had probably heard about Greg having some problems and figured she would tell him all about it.

"Conrad, why don't you visit Greg and find out yourself?"

Ecklie's smile spread out more. "Catherine, I was just asking a simple question."

"Well then, I will give you a simple answer. He is doing as well as can be expected, just as I am. Was there anything else I can help you with today?"

The tension was thick in the room. Ecklie folded his hands on his desk while leaning forward.

"You can tell me why you left Greg alone in that room with no police protection around?"

Catherine was stunned. "The officers had cleared the area prior and Brass had to leave for another scene, so he asked me to continue questioning the motel owners. We CSI's have been left alone at cleared scenes before. I did nothing wrong."

"No perhaps not, but we might introduce a policy change now after this incident. I just wanted to make sure your story matched Captain Brass' story."

Catherine was fuming. "Well as you can see it does. Are we done now, Conrad?"

Ecklie could see that she was not happy with him. "Yes, that is all for now, Catherine. Thank you for coming in early."

Catherine stormed out and went to the break room to grab something to drink to cool her temper down. As she came in, Warrick was sitting in there and he recognized the look on her face.

"Whoa, who pissed you off?"

She grabbed her soda out of the fridge and popped the top. "Take a guess," she steamed.

"Hmm, Ecklie? I heard he was waiting for you."

"That man has some nerve sometimes, questioning me about leaving Greg alone at the scene, which is nothing uncommon. Then he has the nerve to ask me how Greg is doing. I told him to try visiting him and finding out for himself."

Warrick grinned at her angry face. "Do you really want to subject Greg to more torture by having Ecklie visit him?"

Catherine gave Warrick a sideways glare, but then broke into a smile. "Yeah that would be mean to do that to Greg right now. Anyway I doubt Ecklie will be going to see Greg in the hospital. He hates those places."

"So how is Greg anyway," Warrick asked Catherine as he popped a piece of candy in his mouth.

"He's finally going to get out of there on Wednesday. Only problem is he needs someone to stay with to help him out for a couple of weeks. I offered for him to stay at my place since someone is pretty much always there."

Warrick was surprised. "Your place? What about his family?"

"He said he has not told them about what happened and he rather jump off a bridge before letting them take care of him. He did not accept my offer yet anyway."

"Hmm, you sure you could handle Greg Sanders living with you for more than a week?"

Catherine grinned again. "He's tame right now, while he is on painkillers and can't get around too well on his own. I can handle him."

Warrick just raised his eyebrows. "If you say so."

The next day Greg met with the physical therapist. Carol Turner was her name and she was a woman of dark skin and in her mid-40's. Greg found her rather attractive and that made his first session with her go better.

She mostly went over with him what they would be doing. Since he was having problems standing straight up and not being able to without a lot of pain, she was going to help him with stretches that would get his muscles back in shape. Plus his right shoulder muscles had damage so they would be working on that too.

When he got back into his bed after his first short session with her, he was worn out. He was now able to lay on his backside in bed, with little pain. He would still occasionally lie on his side, as it was still more comfortable overall.

He was sleeping when Catherine came in. She was pleased to see he was not on his side anymore. It was a sure sign he was not in as much pain anymore. She did not want to wake him because she was not sure how long he had been asleep, so she sat down in the chair and watched him sleep for a while.

For so long she just thought of him as the young former lab rat turned CSI, never really seeing him as the man he had become. Through all that he had been through over the last year, she discovered there was a lot more to him than she ever gave him credit for. Now when she watched him sleep, she saw him for the man he was.

She always found him to be cute and attractive, but overall it was his charming personality that she appreciated the most. He was always so upbeat and trying to make people feel better. That was why it was so hard to see him down like he had been lately. Things seemed to be getting better for him though, so it seemed.

As she watched him, she noticed he was getting restless in his sleep. He started mumbling something. She assumed he was having a nightmare. His mumblings became more audible. He was saying, "stop."

She hated seeing him like this. She decided to try to wake him up. She touched his arm lightly.

"Greg?" She said in a quiet voice.

She startled him awake. He looked scared at first. She could see him breathing heavily.

"Greg, it's just me. I woke you from a nightmare."

He looked over at her, his eyes wide with surprise that she was there. She had seen him having a nightmare. He felt like a wimp suddenly. He turned his head away from her and closed his eyes, fighting to appear unfazed by his dark dream. Unfortunately it was one of the worst ones he had had yet.

"Greg, do you want to talk about it," she asked him cautiously.

"No!" He yelled, and then he shook his head and immediately apologized. "Sorry I did not mean to yell like that." He ran his hand over his face in frustration. _Why did she have to be there to see him like that? _

She knew he did not mean to yell and she knew he was probably feeling foolish right now. The nightmare had to be pretty bad to upset him like that.

"It's okay, Greg. I understand. You'll talk if and when you are ready to."

He turned and looked at her. The sadness was in his eyes again. "Thanks. I appreciate your understanding. I just…I just don't want to deal with all of it yet."

She sympathized with him. "That's fine with me Greg. I'll be around when you are." She smiled at him sweetly.

"So, um how was your shift," he asked, trying to change the subject.

"It was okay. No big cases right now to work on." She was not sure if she should mention her visit with Ecklie right now.

"Have you thought about your staying at my place yet?"

Greg nodded his head. "I have, but first are you sure you want me to stay under the same roof, especially since I tend to be a bit more, um, unpredictable, lately?" He gave her an unsure look.

She chuckled a bit. "Since when have you been predictable, Greg? So am I getting you will be staying with me then?"

He sighed. "I can't think of any other options, so yes, if you will have me, but only until I am good enough to get around without help."

She smiled at him. "It's a deal then. I already informed my mother and Lindsay you might be staying with us."

He made a questioning look. "And they are okay with me staying there while I recuperate?"

"Yes Greg, they are. Lindsay is eager to have someone to help her with her chemistry homework." She grinned at him.

He rolled his eyes. "So I am going to be used for my brains." He then broke into a smile.

"Well the good thing is tomorrow just happened to be my day off, so I will be able to stick around and help you settle in."

"We'll have to go by my place and grab some of my clothes and stuff I need," he said to her.

"That's to be expected. We can do that." She was noticing how tired he looked compared to the day before.

"Are you doing okay," she asked him.

He gave her a strange look. "What do you mean?"

"You just look more tired today. The infection is almost gone, right?"

He nodded slightly. "Yes, it is gone basically. I had my first physical therapy session today. It tired me out more than I expected it to. Plus it made me more sore all over again."

"Oh, I see," she said in response, but she also figured he was probably having problems sleeping since he was having nightmares. She was not going to bring that subject up again, though.

"Well, I'm going to let you get some more rest then. Just give me a call or leave a message for me when they will be letting you out tomorrow."

"Okay, will do," he said sheepishly.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Take care." She gave him an affectionate pat on his hand and left his room.

Greg watched her leave then laid his head back in the pillow and closed his eyes. He hated that Catherine witnessed him having one of his nightmares. Just having someone around to verify he was having them made them all the more real.

They had been getting worse and they were starting to combine events. He did not want to fall back asleep but he was so tired, there was no preventing it. He finally succumbed to sleep again.


	17. Chapter 17

Catherine walked into Grissom's office to talk to him. "Hi Grissom, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure, what is going on?" He took off his reading glasses and placed them on his desk.

Catherine took a seat. "Well, as you know Greg is being released tomorrow and they said he cannot be on his own yet, as he is still having problems walking around on his own."

"Yes, I know this and he told me he was looking into options on what to do," Grissom replied.

"Yes, and well I was one of those options. I offered to let him stay at my place. It made perfect sense since my mother and Lindsay will be home there to help him when I am not."

Grissom seemed to be thinking it over for a moment. "You sure you want to do that?"

"Gil, he needs someone to help him out. We were both in that room and I think he feels most comfortable with me in talking about things. It's just temporary besides. Plus, he said he could not bare to have his family take care of him. He said they are too overbearing."

"Yes, he had mentioned that to me before. I just suggest you try not to let too many people know about this arrangement, namely Ecklie. He is already acting funny about the whole situation."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Don't I know it!"

Grissom smirked. "I take it your conversation with him did not go so well then."

"Let's just say he knows how to get people to dislike him more."

Grissom just grinned. "Very well then. If you think this arrangement is okay, go ahead. Just make sure it does not affect your current cases in anyway."

"Thanks Gil. I just want to make Greg's recovery process as easy on him as possible."

"We all want that, Catherine."

Greg managed to get some sleep without having any nightmares disrupt it. He did not have them all the time, but when he did they really rattled him.

He looked up as Dr. Maddox came in. "Hey Doc," he greeted him.

"Greg, are you ready to go home later on today?"

"Yes, I am so over this hospital bed," he said with enthusiasm.

Dr. Maddox chuckled. "Well, I am glad you are excited to go. I just want to check on you one last time today before I get ready to sign your release papers."

He examined Greg's back to see how all the lacerations and wounds were healing.

"They look like they are coming along better now. Now you cannot lift anything that is heavy, better yet nothing at all would be preferred. You do not want to pop your stitches. I'll want you to come in twice a week until I am happy that you are doing well enough. Basically I suggest you stick to a lot of bed rest still or just not too much activity, but you do need to try walking around more with the cane I will be giving you. If you are ever worn out or feel pain, just rest. I do not want you over doing it."

"Got it. I do not want to be laid up any longer than I have to be anyway," Greg nodded.

"That's right. So I am going to go ahead and sign your papers for release, so sometime this afternoon you can go home. Did you make arrangements for someone to be with you to help you out at home?"  
"Yes, I am actually staying with a co-worker for awhile."

"Good. Well take care and I will see you in a couple of days."

Greg was never so happy to hear that he was getting out of that hospital. He swore he memorized every dirt spot on the walls and ceiling since he was there. He just wondered now how weird it would be living with Catherine. His feelings for her were pretty strong, but she would not have known it as he tried to keep them hidden. He was too afraid she would reject him. After his years of pursuing Sara to never get anywhere but being good friends only with her, he did not need rejection again. So he was going to have to keep his emotions towards her in check while he was staying at her home.

He called her on her cell phone to let her know he would be able to leave in the afternoon. She had just gotten home from work.

"That's great. After I get some sleep I will be over to get you."

"Okay I will see you then." Greg ended the call and eagerly waited until he would finally be out of that hospital bed.

Nurse Wade came to Greg's room with a wheelchair. Catherine had just arrived. "Make sure his bandages get changed twice daily." Nurse Wade handed Greg a bag.

"Here are your meds and some extra bandages for use. Now get into the wheelchair."

Greg rolled his eyes at Catherine. He had changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt before she arrived. Nick had brought them a couple days prior for when he was finally ready to go home.

Greg got out of the bed slowly and moved over and sat in the wheelchair. He tenderly held his right arm, which was in a sling.

"You have any questions before you are out of here?" Nurse Wade asked him.

"No, I guess I know what I have to do and not to do. I just want out of here."

"Well then let's get you out of here."

Catherine walked with them while they wheeled him down to the parking level, then she went on ahead and pulled her car up to the entrance so Greg would not have to walk far.

Catherine came back inside. "So are you ready, Greg," she smiled at him as she asked him.

Greg nodded. He started to stand up and Nurse Wade handed him his cane, that they discussed he would have to use for a while. He felt foolish and like a cripple but overall he knew he did need the support still since the muscles in his lower back still needed lots of healing time. Plus he still suffered from pain when he was walking.

Catherine watched over him carefully as he hobbled his way to the car door. She noticed he grimaced as he finally settled himself in her car. Catherine thanked Nurse Wade for his assistance.

She got in the car and looked over at Greg, who had his head down. "Are you okay?" She asked with concern.

He lifted his head and looked at her. "Yeah, I am fine. It just feels weird finally being out of that hospital."

"Well you are free from there. Now let's head over to your place to pick up some of your stuff and then we will settle you in at my home." She smiled at him sweetly.

They picked up some clothes and other personal items at Greg's apartment before they arrived at her home.

Greg felt very weird being at her home. As Catherine opened the door for him to get out of the car, she saw the hesitation on his face.

"I know it will be weird at first, but give it a day or two and everything will be fine."

He looked at her with wary eyes. "Okay."

She helped him get out of the car. She knew he was still in a bit of pain by the contorted expression on his face as he got to his feet.

They both looked up when they saw Catherine's mother, Lily, come out into the garage.

"Hello Greg! Do you two need some help?"

"Hello, uh, Ms. …" Greg greeted her, feeling a bit embarrassed at not knowing how to address her.

"Oh please call me Lily. Let me get that bag for you, Catherine. You just help Greg in." Lily came over and took the bag with Greg's things in it.

Greg looked sheepishly at Catherine. "I feel rather helpless."  
She laid a hand on his shoulder. "Just give yourself some time. Things will be back to normal for you before you know it."

Greg sighed. "Okay, I will try."

She gave him a heartwarming smile and helped him into the house.

He realized he had never been in her place before. They walked through the kitchen. Greg noticed some crayon drawings on the refrigerator. He figured they were old by the tattered look of them and the quality. Catherine must have kept them for years, since Lindsay was little.

She took him into the spare bedroom. It had a simple bedroom set in it. "This will be your room for the next couple of weeks. You have free roam of the house."

Greg sat down gingerly on the bed. She noticed the pain on his face.

"Perhaps you should lay down for awhile."

He glanced up at her. "No, I'm fine. I just need my medication. Can you get the pill bottle for me?"

"Sure, no problem." She went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge.

She came back handing Greg his pills and the bottle of water. He took the pills first and popped them in his mouth with his left hand, then took the bottle and took a swig.

"Thanks," he said as he placed the water bottle on the nightstand. Catherine sat down next to him on the bed.

He felt awkward, her being so close to him.

"Greg, the doctor told you to rest and take it easy if you need to. Why don't you just lay down for awhile?"

"I am sick of laying down all the time. I am out of the hospital. Let me just sit here for a little bit, please."

She could not resist him when he gave those puppy dog eyes of his.

"Well in that case, do you maybe want to sit in the living room instead? Got a big TV in there," she grinned.

His eyes lit up. "Yeah that would be nice."

She did not try to help him up, knowing he wanted to do things on his own. She kept an eye on him as they went into the living room.

He carefully sat down on the green plush sofa. He leaned back. "Now this feels nice," he grinned.

She smiled at him. "My mom will be in the other room if you need anything. I need to go pick up Lindsay from school."

He nodded to her and then added. "I will be fine. Thanks a lot for doing this for me, Catherine."

"Greg, I just want you to recover from this and be back 100 as soon as possible."

"Well, I appreciate it." He gazed intently into her eyes.

She felt herself reddened under his intense gaze. She cleared her throat and got up. "Well I better get going. I don't like Lindsay to wait longer than she should have to."

"Okay, drive safely," he smirked at her.

After she left, he turned on the television and flipped through the channels. He stopped on the movie "Braveheart", which was repeating for the hundredth time, but he did not care. He loved that movie, but he soon fell asleep from his overexertion for the day.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N-Thanks for all your feedback on my story so far. I basically have it done, so it is just a matter of typing up the chapters and stuff. This chapter is one of my favorites...it's emotional. Hope you like.

* * *

Catherine came home with Lindsay from school. She walked into the living room with Lindsay and motioned for Lindsay to be quiet. Then she told her to follow her to her room.

When they got to her bedroom, Lindsay asked her mom if Greg was okay.

"He's tired, as I thought he would be. He refused to lie down before. I'll wake him up before dinner, just get started on your homework for now."

Lindsay rolled her eyes. "Yes mom."

Catherine smirked at her daughter. "You know Greg can probably help you out some with your chemistry homework later on."

"Yeah?" Lindsay's blue eyes lit up.

"Yes, he's already volunteered."

"Cool," Lindsay grinned.

"Okay, get to work on your other stuff. I will call you when grams has dinner ready."

Catherine walked back into the living room. She smirked when she saw _Braveheart_ on the screen. She gazed at Greg sleeping on her sofa. She was glad he was looking better than he had before. She knew he had needed the rest; he was just too stubborn to admit it.

He opened his eyes and realized he had fallen asleep.

"I told you you needed rest."

He looked over at his left side and saw Catherine grinning at him. He scowled at her. "Okay, so I was tired. It's to be expected."

Suddenly he caught a whiff of dinner.

"What's cooking, honey," he asked with a smart assed grin.

She frowned at him. "My mother is cooking spaghetti for dinner."

Greg could feel his stomach growling already.

"Oh and by the way, I told Lindsay you could help her with her homework tonight."

"You did just have me here to use me for my brains. I knew it." But he was smiling.

She was glad he was sounding more like his old self again.

"Of course, Greg. I just invited you here to use you for your brains. Now enough with the goofing around, we are about to eat. Do you want to hobble yourself over to the kitchen table?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That was not very nice." He slowly got up anyway, wincing as he tried to straighten himself out.

As they ate dinner around the table, Greg felt like an awkward member of the family. Lindsay was excited he was there. She always thought all of her mom's male co-workers were 'hot'.

Lily treated him like a son she never had by asking constantly if he was okay. He was a bit embarrassed by all the female attention, but it was Catherine's occasional quick glances at him that he noticed the most.

After dinner, Greg did help Lindsay with the little bit of Chemistry homework she had. Catherine totally trusted Greg with her daughter. Greg ended up making Lindsay laugh more than anything. Catherine could hear it and it made her happy.

Greg finally emerged from Lindsay's room, looking somewhat tired again. He walked into the guest bedroom and sat down on the side of the bed.

Catherine came in and noticed he seemed a bit forlorn. "What's wrong, Greg? It sounded like you were having fun with Lindsay."

He looked up at her, slightly surprised to see her. "Oh I was. No, it's just that I need to try to take a shower now."

"Do you need help? Is that the problem?"

He shook his head. "No, but you will have to replace my bandages after."

"Yes, I know that. That's fine with me." She could see he was still bothered by something.

"Oh okay. Well let me take my shower then." He got up and supported himself with the cane as he walked over to the bathroom.

She was puzzled as to what was bothering him. Everything seemed to have been going well so far with him there.

She heard the shower start running. She got out the bag of medical supplies the nurse had given him, plus the additional that she had bought.

Greg stood under the showerhead, letting the water beat on his face and chest. He could not with his back, the doctor told him. Plus it would hurt too much. Even the little bit of water that trickled down his back irritated the wounds.

He stepped out of the shower after a few minutes. He towel dried his short hair and the rest of himself. He pulled on a clean pair of sweatpants. He stood in front of the mirror a moment, staring back at his thin appearance. From the front he looked unharmed, but he knew his back was another story. He was worried about Catherine seeing him so damaged. He had been dreading this moment all day.

He finally mustered up enough courage to walk back into his room. Catherine heard him coming. She realized she had never seen him shirtless before. She always thought of him as sort of scrawny, even though he was fairly tall. She was surprised to see the slight build he actually had, but she also noticed his weight loss a lot more in his rib area.

He hesitated under her gaze upon him. "Um, how do we want to do this," he asked her.

"Just sit down on the side of the bed here."

He came over slowly and then sat down with his back towards her. Wet bandages covered all his wounds now.

"Okay, I am going to slowly remove the old ones. Are you ready?"

He nodded his head slightly and she could hear him make a big sigh.

"I will try to be as gentle as possible," she told him. She felt a bit nervous herself now, as she started with one corner of the bandage over his back right shoulder. She noticed he remained surprisingly still as she pulled off that bandage. Then she went for the numerous ones covering the long lacerations down his back.

He started to flinch more as she removed those. It was not until she had all the old, damp bandages off that she held back a gasp. He had stitches going down in trails on his back that held the skin together for healing. Then his right shoulder and the once infected lower back wound was a mess of more stitches.

Greg noticed she was not doing anything for a few minutes. He knew she was taking in the damage.

"It's pretty grotesque, huh," he said in a shaky voice.

She felt her eyes welling up realizing Greg had to know she was staring at his back in horror all over again. She had flashed back to when she saw him all covered in blood.

"Greg, I am so sorry."

"I know," he said quietly.

She wiped her eyes a moment then fumbled for the disinfectant she had to use first before putting the new bandages on.

Every time he flinched or winced in pain, it broke her heart. She tried to get it over with as soon as she could.

She finally finished replacing the last bandage. She gathered herself together. He did not need to see that she had been crying some for him.

"Okay, it's all done now." She remembered she would have to do it twice a day. Hopefully she would get use to it eventually, just as he seemed to have.

Greg did not turn around right away. Instead he got up and grabbed a tank top off the top of the dresser. He pulled it on very slowly, taking care not to strain his right shoulder too much.

He finally turned around to face her. She could swear he must have been crying too. He looked worn out and red eyed. She tried to act like she did not notice, but it tore her up inside to see him looking that way.

"Thanks, Catherine. I think I need to sleep now."

She nodded her head and stood up. She watched him pull back the covers and gently crawl into bed. He got on his side again.

"Goodnight, Greg." She said as she closed the door behind her.

Greg made a grateful sigh and reached over and turned off the light.

Since she was use to working the night shift, Catherine spent most of her time in the living room on her nights off of work. She would sleep a little on the sofa, but mostly spent her nights going over casework or watching television. She mostly slept during the late morning, after Lindsay was off to school again.

That night she sat with the TV on just for some background noise as her thoughts were consumed with Greg. All she could picture was the mess that was his back and the sorrowful look in his eyes before she let him be for the night. He had so much to overcome yet. She thought of Tyler again, licking the blood off his knife. She felt sick to her stomach. She took a couple deep breaths to control her stomach urges.

She wondered if she would be holding up as well as Greg was. Greg was a lot stronger person than anyone ever gave him credit for. She had to stop dwelling on it. She popped in a movie to watch to take her mind off of him for a while.

_He was alone in the motel room. He was examining evidence on the ground when a foot clocked him in the face, knocking him back and dazing him. Then another foot met his rib cage and another. He was being pummeled by a gang of youths with masks on. Then he was suddenly grabbed by his collar and pulled up to face Tyler Renning. His heart started beating faster. Ty grinned maliciously at him then spun him around and Greg felt a knife cutting into his back and being dragged down. Greg cried out in pain. _

He woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up in bed and turned on the light. He wiped the sweat from his face and ran his hand through his hair. He did not want to go back to sleep. At least now that he was out of the hospital, he could actually get up and walk around instead of just lying there in bed.

He stood up, although a bit wobbly. He grabbed his cane, much to his chagrin, but he knew he needed it for stability. He opened the door and walked quietly out into the living room. He spotted Catherine, seated on the sofa. He tried to duck back into his room before she spotted him, but he could not move quickly enough.

"Greg, is everything okay?"

He glanced over at her and decided to come in the room. "I can't sleep too well. You know how it is when you are in a strange place for the first time." He shrugged.

Catherine could tell by the slightly haunted look in his eyes that he was not telling the truth. She waited until he sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Greg, you do not have to lie to me. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you had another nightmare."

He did not drop his head this time. Instead he narrowed his eyes at her. "You know, I hate that you can tell that."

She made a small smile. "Sorry."

He waved his hand off. "It's okay. I just need some time to get over them. I know they will go away eventually."

"You know if you do want to talk about them you can tell me."

Greg studied her a moment, still unsure if he wanted to know. He could see the concern on her face. He decided it might be better to tell her about it.

"Okay, I will talk about it."

Catherine smiled, happy he was finally going to talk about something regarding what happened that fateful day.

She let him explain the whole dream without interruption. She now understood why he said the dreams were twisting things.

"Where you still having nightmares about the beating before this happened?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Not really. I mean they were few and far between, but for the most part hardly any."

"Well sometime the medication you are on can cause nightmares."

"Yeah, I know but I rather have the nightmares than deal with the pain I would be in otherwise." He said modestly.

"I suppose. Are the dreams usually the same thing?"

"Not always. It changes. Sometimes it is just Ty. Sometimes you are also in them." He swallowed a moment. "Ty torturing you too."

"But thanks to you, in reality he never really had a chance. If you had not shot him when you did, things could have been different. You distracted him from me. Although you know I am still not overly happy about the risks you took upon yourself."

Greg rolled his eyes. "Not this again."

She grinned at him. "No, I will drop it. So you want to watch a movie or do something else?"

Greg gave her a sly glance. "Something else? What kind of something else?"

Catherine gave him a light smack on his arm. "Ow!"

"Nothing like whatever is going through your perverted mind." She glared at him.

He chuckled a bit. "Okay, seriously what movies do you have?"

She went through her pile and they ended up picking out a comedy. They both figured they needed something lighthearted.

Catherine was not surprised to see Greg fall asleep again during the movie. The doctor had told her he would still need a lot of sleep, plus she knew his meds caused drowsiness.

She grabbed a throw blanket and gently laid it over him. He stirred slightly but did not wake up.

She found herself again staring at him as he slept. He really was a handsome young man. She shook her head. He was not exactly so young anymore. He was in his thirties now, but being he was the youngest CSI on staff, she still had a hard time not thinking of him in that way.

She suddenly found herself wondering what it would be like to be with him. She knew that when he was in the lab he had a few girlfriends, but also a mad crush on Sara. But since he became a CSI that crush seemed to just turn into a friendship and as with any CSI, a love life became almost non-existent since they worked so much.

She still wondered how Warrick managed to find someone and get married. His marriage hurt her at first but she had gotten over her own crush on him at his point.

But now she had these strange, rather strong feelings for Greg, something she never dreamed would happen. It was not just what happened that caused them to come on either. She had been ignoring the feelings for the last few months, thinking it was foolish.

She leaned her head back and decided to stop thinking about it so much. Maybe she should just try to sleep like everyone else in the household.


	19. Chapter 19

It was a couple days later and Lily had just brought Greg home from his physical therapy session. He was in pain and tired. He crashed in his bed glad no one else was around except Lily. She had been really good about not bothering him, unless he asked her for something.

Lindsay was a sweet girl and when she found out Greg liked video games she always wanted him to play games with her. It was fine when he was not feeling like crap, but right now he would not have been able to deal with it.

Catherine had been great and he was really enjoying being around her so much. He liked seeing her interact with her daughter and her mother. He had got over the initial discomfort of her changing his bandages and seeing his back. Lily had changed them for him when Catherine was not around to do it. Her seeing his wounds did not bother him as much as when Catherine had.

He lay on his stomach, burying his head in the pillow. He had not realized how much the physical therapy would wipe him out, not to mention how much his shoulder and lower back hurt him again. Carol Turner, his therapist, advised him to make sure he took his pain medication at least an hour before his visits to her. It would help him.

He turned to his side and looked at the photo of Catherine, Lindsay, and Lily with their arms around each other at some outdoor location. He smiled to himself, glad to know that Ty was not able to destroy one family at least. He closed his eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep.

Catherine shaking his arm startled him awake a couple hours later. He had that wild-eyed look when his eyes shot open. He took a deep breath to ease his nerves. "Catherine, what's wrong?" He asked, acting like he did not know why she was there, when he knew perfectly well. He had had the worst nightmare yet.

Catherine had been home for about a half hour. Her mother told her that Greg had been tired after his therapy session, so he had been in his room since. She had been walking by his door when she thought she heard noises coming from within. She opened the door quietly and saw him on his back, his head tossing back and forth. She heard him mumble, "stop". She immediately had gone over to him to try to wake him up.

"Greg, you were having a nightmare again. It seemed really bad." Concern laced her blue eyes.

_It was really bad_, Greg thought, as he looked at her, thankful it was just a dream. "It was the same basically. I'm fine now, though."

She did not believe him for a second as his eyes deceived him. "Greg, I can tell when you're lying and now happens to be one of those times. This one was different from the others somehow, wasn't it?"

Greg angrily sat up quickly but immediately regretted it, as he was still sore from his therapy session. "Look, I am not in the mood to talk about it right now. Can you just let it be for now, please?" His tone started off heated but softened at the end.

She studied him for a moment, contemplating letting it go. She was so use to pushing suspects to talk but Greg was not a suspect and if he was not ready to talk again, she would let it go. "Okay for now, but one of these days perhaps you should confront Tyler Renning again."

He looked like someone just slapped him. "What? What do you mean?"

She sat down next to him on the bed. "Greg, I've already seen him twice since that day. Maybe because I have confronted him and know he is locked away now, maybe that is why he really had not haunted my dreams as much as yours. Perhaps if you see him in jail and see that he is put away it will help you better to deal with your inner fears."

Greg hated when Catherine became the voice of reason. He knew she made a good point and he knew he tried avoiding even thinking of that day overall. The more he ignored it the worse his dreams were getting. He sighed heavily then finally responded. "I'm not sure I can, at least not yet." He lowered his head, feeling ashamed that he did not have the courage again to face him.

Catherine was able to read his reaction. "Greg, it was just a suggestion for now. You can take your time with this. No one is expecting you to rush back into things."

"I know but what if I want to. I am sick of sitting around feeling useless. I feel like a leech on you. I don't know how I'll ever repay you for opening your house to me."

Catherine was surprised. "You are not a leech on me. And I feel like I am repaying you in a way for stopping Tyler by shooting him when you did."

"You don't owe me anything, really. I was just acting on natural instinct."

Catherine took that as a chance to ask him something that she had been wondering about for awhile now. "Speaking of natural instinct, your aim was really dead on when you handled that gun. Have you shot a gun before?"

Greg's eyes flashed a moment in shock, and then looked down a moment, pondering whether he should relive those old memories. He looked up at Catherine suddenly feeling a bit nauseous as the memories flooded back into his mind.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good suddenly," she said to him as she noticed his face pale.

"Catherine, I…" he sighed audibly then continued on. "I have shot guns before, many years ago. It's a time I have tried to forget."

Catherine could feel that it was something he struggled with. "Something big happened, didn't it?"

Greg's serious eyes gazed back into hers. "Yeah and it's something I've never really talked about to anyone but my family before." He wanted her to understand what a big deal this was for him to even mention it to anyone.

"You can trust me, Greg." She placed her hand on his knee in a comforting way.

He gave her a faint smile for understanding. "I know it's just…not good memories."

"Look, if you do not want to tell me, I don't want you to feel pushed." She told him.

He shook his head. "No, I…I can tell you this. It's…" He puffed out a breath and shifted on the bed to make himself more comfortable before going into the long story.

"Okay, when I was a teenager, my dad use to take me out hunting. Of course at first he taught me all about gun safety. We would often hunt with some of my friends and their fathers. My friend, Mike's father owned many different types of guns. One day Mike invited my best friend, Troy and I over to his place. His parents weren't home. He had set up a bunch of beer cans and bottles on their backyard fence. He had gone into his father's gun cabinet and took out a couple guns, one a pistol and one a 45. It was not like we had not done this before, but usually one of our dad's were around."

"Mike was trying to reload the 45 and he was having problems with it. Troy was next to him, trying to help him when the gun misfired." Greg lowered his head. Catherine felt something bad coming up.

"The next thing I heard after the gun going off was Mike screaming for help. I was a few feet away and ran over. I saw my best friend, Troy on the ground, blood gushing out of his chest. I stared in shock at Troy. Mike yelled at me to call for help. I finally snapped out of it and ran inside and called 911. I ran back outside and saw Mike crying over Troy, begging him not to die."

Greg shook his head some, his eyes still lowered. "A lot of what happened after that day is still a blur to me. I remember hearing the sirens and the paramedics arrive. They said he was DOA. All of our parents rushed home. My parents would not let me out of their sight for days. My dad got rid of all his guns. A few days after the accident we attended Troy's funeral. I was still sort of numb to what happened. I saw Mike and his parents. My eyes met with Mike's. He looked like shit; he could hardly look at me. I thought it had messed me up, but it was he after all, who was holding the gun that misfired and killed Troy. After the funeral, that evening, we got a phone call. I was in my room when my parents both came in. Their faces…their faces told me something very bad went down. Michael had killed himself after he got home later after the funeral."

Catherine gasped. She had no idea Greg had lived with something so tragic like this for so long and no one knew. "Greg, I am so sorry."

Greg finally looked up again; his eyes were red and watery. "Mike's dad had not gotten rid of his guns. Mike blew his brains out. After all of that I wanted nothing to do with guns. I went through a few months of counseling and whatever, but I lost two of my best friends within a week. No counseling really can ever erase that emptiness. I finally decided to live my life to it's fullest and do whatever I could to stay happy, because my friends would not have wanted me to dwell on their deaths for the rest of my life. So I have."

"You know I wanted to work in a crime lab, where I would not have to handle a gun, but still be able to help get people off the streets who used guns and violence purposely with intent to hurt people. Families should never have to suffer like those two families did. They were both shattered. Now you can probably see why my parents are so over-protective."

Catherine nodded, wiping a tear away from her eyes. "I can't even imagine, but then again I can. Last year when Lindsay was kidnapped, after I got her back, I did not want her to go anywhere without my knowledge. The thought of loosing her was…unbearable. But Greg, how have you kept this hidden so long?"

Greg sighed. "Well I remember my first time out in the field, on that bus accident scene. I was with Nick helping out the bus driver and when he started coughing up blood, I froze because all I could think of was the blood pouring out of Troy's chest. I ended up lying to Nick, saying I'd never seen blood like that in person before, but I had. I've just tried very hard to bury those memories or I think about how what happened then changed my life and I am doing what I am doing now for them in a way."

Catherine stared in amazement at Greg. "I always knew you were a good person, Greg, but now you just simply amaze me at how much courage and strength you have inside you. Thank you for letting me in on this. I have the utmost respect for you."

Greg bowed his head, blushing a bit now. "I'm not that great, Cath. I can't face Tyler Renning now, but thanks for saying that."

"It is still a fresh incident. You just need time, Greg and that too you will get through."

"Thanks for your faith in me." He slowly turned his intense gaze back upon her, once again making her cheeks redden.

She hated how he could do that with his eyes. She had to find an out before she possibly did something she was not yet sure she was ready to do.

"Well, uh, I need to see how my mom is doing with dinner. You're okay now, right?"

He glanced down, knowing she was trying to escape the emotions in the room. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I always am."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Okay, for now anyway. I'll call when dinner is ready."

Greg watched her leave. He lay back down, staring up at the ceiling, feeling some relief that someone else actually knew his big dark secret. He was glad he picked Catherine to share it with. She said she saw him differently now, he hoped it was in a way he was hoping for.


	20. Chapter 20

a/n- Glad you all are enjoying the story. Now things start to heat up again.

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Catherine could not stop thinking about what Greg had been through while she was at work.

"Catherine, what is wrong with you today," Grissom asked her as once again he had asked her something and she seemed not to hear him.

She looked up at Grissom; surprised he was even there. "Oh, just tired I guess."

Grissom narrowed his eyes towards her. "This doesn't have anything to do with Greg staying with you, does it?"

"No, not at all," she quickly responded with a lie. She hated lying to him but she did not want to have to go into some long explanation of what was really going through her mind.

"Okay, how is he doing anyway? I need to stop by and see him again."

"He is doing good. I think he gets his stitches out today finally. I know he is happy about that." She smiled.

"Good and how is he getting around now on his own?"

"He's doing better. He's able to move his right shoulder more now, I know. He's still using the cane to help him walk around. He hates it, but it is helping him remain on his feet longer. I know he is still usually pretty tired out after his physical therapy sessions."

Grissom nodded his head. "What about his emotional state?"

Catherine hesitated to respond right away to that question. She considered everything he had told her the night before.

"I'd say he's doing very well considering all he has been through."

"Good, I trust your opinion and that is good to hear. Well, I got a few things to do before the shift ends. If I do not see you before you leave, enjoy your day off."

Catherine was eager for her day off. She made plans at Lindsay's suggestion, to go out to Lake Mead for the day and have Greg go with them to get sometime outside, since he had been cooped up for so long now. She had not told him about it yet, but would at dinner.

"Well, it looks like your are healing fine. Just keep applying the medicated lotion you have and bandages over until I see you again in about a week."

Greg put his shirt back on as Dr. Maddox told him what to do. The removal of the stitches was not as bad as he thought it was going to be, it just took a long time.

After Dr. Maddox said he could go, he met Lily out in the waiting room. "Sorry it took so long. I know you must be totally sick of me by now."

Lily smiled at the young man. "Nonsense, it's rather nice having a man around again. Besides, it gets me out of the house more often."

"Well thanks, I appreciate it."

When they got back to the Willows home, Greg sat in the living room to relax, while Lily went off into her room to take a nap. Greg thought that Catherine would have been home by then, but knowing all too well, the shift had probably gone into overtime.

He was really starting to miss working. It was mostly due to his complete boredom, but also he missed seeing all his friends at work. He had not seen much of the others since he was staying at Catherine's.

He did miss the thrill of solving the case or finding the key piece of evidence. He had been out for almost a month now. He was ready to go back to work soon.

"Oh dear, you really need to get back to work soon."

Greg looked over his shoulder and saw Catherine grinned at him. "What? What's wrong?"

She pointed to the TV. "_The Young and the Restless_?"

Greg looked at the TV. He had not even been paying attention to what channel it was on. "What? No, I'm not watching that. The news was just on. I did not even realize this came on. I was thinking about stuff."

She came over and sat down next to him. "What kind of stuff?"

"Oh just missing work and everyone there mostly."

A smirk played on her lips. "Even Hodges?"

Greg flashed a grin at her. "Maybe not him so much."

"So are your stitches out now," she asked him.

"Yes they are. Dr. Maddox says everything is healing well now."

"Was it painful getting them removed?"

Greg shook his head. "Surprisingly it was not that bad. Mostly a weird sensation while they were being taken out. It took a long time."

"Well you had a lot of stitches," Catherine said to him.

"Yeah I know. I just feel better knowing they are gone. At least my back won't look like Frankenstein anymore."

"It wasn't that bad," Catherine said trying to make him feel better.

Greg frowned at her. "Cath, be serious. You know it was bad looking. You had to see it more than I even did. I've already faced the fact that I will have those scars on my back for the rest of my life, but at least I am still alive, right?"

Again his attitude amazed her. "You are right. I am just glad to hear you starting to sound like your old self."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well you know since our talk last night and bringing up those memories of my friends, I remembered how lucky I really was. I could have just as easily been the one helping Mike that day and been shot. I could have died from my beating. Ty could have slit my throat so easily so many times, but here I am." He smiled at her.

She smiled back at him. "Yes here you are, sitting on my sofa, watching soap operas."

He glared at her, with a smirk on his face. "Don't you dare tell anyone at work that or I'll tell them you saw down forests in your sleep!"

She opened her mouth in shock. "You would not dare!"

Greg just kept the cocky grin on his face. "Never dare me."

She glared at him with a frown for a while before finally speaking.

"We'll continue this later. I need to catch up on some sleep now." She tossed a pillow at him as she got up and walked to her bedroom.

He chuckled to himself. It was nice being so comfortable around her now. He wondered if it was safe enough yet to make a move. He shook his head, still feeling foolish about trying to be anything more than friends with her.

Later that evening, after Lindsay was home from school and they were having dinner, Catherine brought up the Lake Mead idea to Greg.

Greg was skeptical about being outside in public for a long period of time for some reason.

"I don't know. I think I should just hang back here and rest."

"Come on, Greg. It will be nice to get out, get some fresh air and you can still relax, it will just be outside." This was coming from Lindsay, who really was growing use to Greg being around all the time.

He looked at Catherine who simply shrugged her shoulders. He felt helpless. He had no choice but to agree to go along.

He sighed heavily. "Fine, I will go. Just don't complain if I slow you down."

Lindsay smiled. "Thanks Greg. I will make sure you enjoy yourself."

Greg smiled at Lindsay before looking at Catherine who was smirking at him. He just shook his head slightly, wishing her daughter were not so persuasive.

Greg stayed quiet for the most part on the ride out at Lake Mead. Lindsay was telling Catherine all about her upcoming performances in the high school play.

Greg felt like he was intruding on a family outing. He was going to be glad when he could go back to living on his own again. Although he admitted he would miss them some, mostly spending so much time with Catherine.

They found a spot to lay out with a picnic table nearby. Lily, with Lindsay's help, had prepared a cooler of food and drinks.

Greg stared at Catherine's curves in her black shorts and red tank top as she billowed out a blanket onto the ground. Greg felt like an old man, using the cane to get around. He tried to go without it but when he walked too long without help he strained his back muscles, which only caused him pain. The doctor warned him it was not going to be a quick healing process.

Catherine noticed Greg sitting on the picnic bench looking a bit forlorn. She came over to him. "What's wrong, Greg?" He looked at her, with her nearly perfect skin and strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and wished he had the courage to tell her how beautiful she looked. Instead he decided to mention what else was on his mind.

"I just feel like I am a party crasher, like I don't belong here."

"Nonsense. We wanted you here. It was Lindsay's idea mostly because she thought you needed to get out of the house some."

Greg looked surprised. "Yeah, so it was Lindsay's idea? Well, okay then I will try not to feel like an outsider."

"Come on, come over and join us on the blanket."

After a couple hours, Greg had to admit the sun felt good beating down on him. It was nice, sitting outside, drinking a couple beers and just talking about life in general. He felt truly relaxed for the first time since the event.

He was about to grab another beer when Catherine stopped him. "Perhaps you do not want to mix too much alcohol with your pain meds," she said to him with a warning in her eyes.

He frowned a bit. "I guess you are right, but just know you are spoiling my relaxed mood," he said giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Okay one more, but then that is it. We will be leaving soon anyway." She handed him the beer he had grinned for and watched as a smile filled his face.

After Lindsay had her fill of swimming and flirting with boys, Catherine decided it was time to head back home. Catherine noticed that everyone was quiet on the drive home. That was a sure sign they had an enjoyable day. Everyone was tired.

Back at home, Lindsay asked to spend the night at a friend's house, so Lily took her there before she went out for a date herself.

Greg was still in the shower when Catherine entered his room to get ready to do the usual change of his bandages. He had been unusually quiet since they returned. She was not sure if it was due to him being tired or something else.

He came out of the shower and saw her still dressed in her shorts and top from the day. He looked rather sheepishly at her. "Hey, " he greeted her.

She had grown accustomed to seeing him shirtless as he came to get his bandages done.

He sat down on the bed besides her. "You've been awfully quiet since the ride back." She said casually.

"Yeah, I've just been thinking."

"Well by your mood, it seems the thoughts have not been good."

"Hmm, yeah drinking sometimes does that to my mood." He turned his back towards her so she could start changing his wet bandages.

As she peeled off the old ones, she asked him what was bothering him.

Greg figured now was as good a time as any to say what was on his mind. He had been thinking about her all day long. "Could you see yourself with someone like me?"

Catherine stared at the back of his head, stunned. _How could he ask something like that so easily?_

He noticed she stopped doing his bandages. Maybe he should not have asked that so openly. He turned around to look at her, almost wanting to laugh at her expression. "I kind of blindsided you with that one, huh," he looked coyly at her. He was already starting to regret asking her.

"You know, forget I even asked," Greg said before feeling like a total fool after a minute of her not saying anything.

She stared at him before finally formulating a response. "That's something hard to forget easily, but you know I can give you an answer. If you had asked me that question a year ago, heck even a few months ago I would have said no, but now that I've come to know you better through all of this and seen what you're really made of, I can say yes."

Greg's eyes lit up. "Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better."

She smiled him. "No, I'm not just saying that to make you feel better. Now turn around so I can finish your bandages."

Greg rolled his eyes at her and turned around. There was a quiet moment before Greg spoke again. "Does it turn you off," he asked quietly.

"Does what turn me off? What are you talking about," she asked with softness in her voice after hearing some sadness in his.

Greg swallowed hard. "My back."

She had just finished replacing the last bandage when he said that. She felt that tug at her heart again. "No Greg, not at all." She placed her hand over a bandage on his back. "You know what I think of when I see your scars, I think of the man who risked his own life to protect mine, a man who puts others before himself. A man that I've grown to care about deeply."

Greg turned around and gazed into her blue eyes. "You really mean that?"

She nodded her head and smiled at him. "Yes, I really do. I think I started realizing it when Tyler first ran that knife down your back and I thought you might die. Deep inside I could not bare the thought of you not in my life in any way. And now over the last couple of weeks, you've shown me a side of you that I did not know existed."

Greg's expressive brown eyes studied her a moment. "I feel the same way, but I did not just realize it recently. I've felt this way for a while now, but was too afraid of rejection to say or act on it."

"What makes you think I would have rejected you?"

Greg cocked his head to the side. "Catherine, let's be serious. For one, the age difference between us is pretty big."

Catherine nodded her head. "True, but it is not unheard of and look we are not that different than Sara and Grissom in age difference."

"Yes, you have a point there. But then there was the fact that you have Lindsay and I know how protective you are with her."

Catherine could not believe he would ever think that she though he might be a threat to Lindsay. She placed a comforting hand on his leg. "Greg, you are wonderful with Lindsay. Never in a million years would I worry about Lindsay when she was with you. You have fit into this household naturally. Both my mother and Lindsay adore you. Lindsay had even told me she is going to miss you being around when you go back to living on your own. That is why she wanted the day with all of us together today."

Greg slowly nodded his head, seeing things more clearly now. "So what about you? Are you eager to see me leave or will you miss me being around?"

She smiled at him, knowing where he was going with this line of questions. "I can ask you the same thing. Are you eager to leave or do you want to stick around?"  
A grin grew on Greg's face. "Clever, spinning the question back on me, but fine I will answer it, unlike you," he smirked with a gleam in his eyes. "I admit I miss my space and well mostly my stuff, but I really like being here now. I mean your mom and Lindsay have both been great to me, making me feel like part of your family. I'd really miss seeing you everyday. I'd really miss seeing how relaxed you are when you are at home, how we can have these talks. And how sexy you are in your shorts and tank top." A mischievous grin played on his face.

"Oh yeah?" She licked her lips then traced her fingertips over his bare chest. "I'll miss seeing you come out of the shower just like this."

The mood was changing fast. Greg watched her hand as it stopped just short of his pants waistband. The heat was building fast between them. His lust filled eyes slowly traveled up her shapely body, resting on her face. "Your not going to just flirt with me like you have so often in the past, now are you," he asked in a low voice.

She gave him a sly look. "I have flirted with you a lot, haven't I?"

Greg slowly nodded his head, his eyes fixed on her lips now.

She leaned in closer to him, her eyes hungry for him now. "I think I am done flirting." She placed her hands on his face and drew him in for a deep, passionate kiss.

Greg thought he was dreaming or his meds were messing with his head. He dreamed about her kissing him but never thought it would actually happen.

When she drew back, she gave him a satisfied grin. He was a much better kisser than she ever imagined. "Now, did that feel like flirting," she smirked.

Greg cleared his throat a bit. "Um, I don't know. Still could have been a tease, I need more convincing."

Catherine was turned on now and the glint in his eyes only made her want him more suddenly. "Oh, is that so. I'll convince you." She started kissing him again while pushing him back on the bed, her hands traveling over his chest.

He reached up and pulled her hair loose out of the ponytail then running his hands thought it.

She pulled back and sat up on top of him for a moment. She began to reach to take her tank top off.

Greg was leery of moving too fast. He placed his hands on her arms to stop her. "Are you sure you want to do this? It seems rather sudden."

She smiled at him. "You really are too sweet. We've known each other for years now. We've both been holding back too long, besides it's only us home tonight."

Greg helped her pull off her tank top. She had on a lacy black bra underneath.

Greg thought it could not get any better until she proceeded to also remove her bra. She chuckled at the awed expression on his face.

This time he grabbed her and pulled her down to him. They hungrily took each other in, giving into all their desires.


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N-Again thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate them. :) I know it seemed a bit fast to some people, but they have known each other a long time and with all that has happened to them, I think of them getting together in the amount of time they did realistic.  
_

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Greg lay on his side staring at Catherine. His back hurt him some but he did not care. He was too happy and enamored with Catherine, who slept next to him, to care. He could not believe that she had wanted to be with him after all this time. He really never thought it would happen. Now there she was in bed with him, looking beautiful.

She woke up and looked over and saw him staring at her with affection in his eyes. "Hey sleepyhead," he said to her. She turned on her side to face him. She reached over and ran her hand through his short, wavy hair.

"Didn't you sleep any?"

He was still smiling at her but his eyes told her something else. "Yeah, I slept some."

She eyed him carefully and then figured it out. "So when was the last time you took your pain medication?"

Greg sighed. "I'm fine."

Catherine sat up on her elbow. "Now you don't have to keep lying to me about it. You could not sleep because you have not taken your pain medication since when? Since before we got home hours ago?"

She was right, there was no use lying to her. "Okay, I am in some pain but it really is not that bad. I've been in much worse."

Catherine frowned at him. "Men! You are all the same. So stubborn." She got out of bed and grabbed her shorts and tank top off the floor and put them on. "I'm going to bring you some water so you can take your pills."

As she left the room, he sat up against the pillows on the bed. He groaned a bit as the pain in his lower back flared up. He leaned over and grabbed his pill bottle to get some pills.

Catherine came back a minute later. She thrust the bottle in his face. "Here! Drink up."

He rolled his eyes and drank down the pills. "There, are you satisfied now," he asked as he put the water bottle down on the nightstand.

"Not quite." She smiled at him then crawled over on the bed to him and kissed him.

"I like this," he whispered to her as she kissed his neck. She held his handsome face in her hands, gazing into his beautiful brown eyes.

"Surprisingly enough so do I."

He hated to do it, but he had to ask about something on his mind. "What about work? Are we going to keep this quiet or what?"

Catherine cringed and sat back. "Way to kill a mood, Greg!" He shrugged his shoulders in apology.

"Well, I guess we will keep it quiet for awhile. It will be easy until you go back to work, which is probably soon."

Greg nodded. "Yeah but I will be on desk duty for awhile, so we probably still will not see each other too much on the job."

"But off the job," she asked with a questioning grin.

"That's up to you. You still have Lindsay around and your mother here. Luckily neither is home yet today."

Catherine looked at the clock on the nightstand. "Yeah speaking of, I better go take a shower and get dressed before they come home." She gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep while I get ready for their return home. Then we can talk some more later before I go to work."

"Okay, I will try." He settled back into his bed and managed to fall asleep shortly after.

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Catherine drove into work feeling the happiest she had in sometime. She never thought that being with Greg Sanders would make her that happy. It was actually invigorating being with a younger man. He made her feel very womanly, more so than any man she had ever been with.

When she walked into the office, Grissom asked to see her right away. She wondered what it was going to be about.

After putting her stuff in the locker room, she went to Grissom's office. "What's up, Grissom," she asked as she sat down in a chair.

"I wanted to ask you how Greg was doing? Do you think he might be interested in coming back to work soon?"

"He's doing well and yes, I think he would love to come back to work. We were just talking about it last night."

"Well, I was thinking because I know he is not ready for field work yet, but Wendy is taking vacation next week, maybe he could fill in for her?"

"Back in the DNA Lab for awhile? I am sure he would not mind. I'll ask him about it later today."

"Good, then just have him call me when he has an answer."

Catherine knew Greg would probably jump at the chance to get back to work. She knew he was sick of sitting around the house all day.

When Catherine got home late from her shift the next morning, the house was empty. She knew Lindsay was already off to school and Lily had probably taken Greg to his physical therapy session. She took advantage of the alone time to get some sleep.

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Carol Turner, Greg's therapist, gave him the okay to be on his own again finally. He was not in much pain anymore overall and he was able to move his shoulder and walk around much better than he had a couple weeks ago when she first saw him.

He also saw Dr. Maddox who told him he would not need to keep bandages on his back anymore. They were healed enough not to need covering anymore.

Greg asked Lily to drop him off at his place so he could get his own car to drive himself around again. She knew this meant he would probably be moving out of their home soon. She wondered how Catherine would take the news, knowing Greg and her daughter had grown very close to each other over the past couple of weeks.

Greg felt weird being in his apartment. He had not been in there for a few weeks. It looked dusty and unkempt. He walked into his bedroom to grab his car keys off the dresser. He looked at his bed and wondered if Catherine would ever come over to his place to spend the night. A grin curved on his lips as he thought about the day before.

He knew he could not stay at her place forever though, so he would have to break the news to her today that he was going to move back into his place. He drove back to Catherine's house, feeling relieved to be behind the wheel again. His life was getting back on track, slowly.

He used the key Catherine gave him to enter her home. Lily had told him she was going to run errands, so she was not home yet, only Catherine was. He just wanted to see her for a moment. He peeked in her bedroom door and saw her all covered up in bed, sleeping. He stared at her for a while, a smile on his face.

He was closing the door when she said his name. He turned and saw her looking at him. "Sorry, I did not mean to wake you."

"You didn't. Come here," she said and patted the bed next to her.

He closed the door behind him and came over to sit down on her bed. "How did your therapy session go today," she asked him first.

"Good, really good actually. I, uh, I got the okay from my doctor to be on my own again, if I want. Dr. Maddox said I no longer need to keep bandages on my back either. They are healing well enough now. And my therapist says I am getting around well enough too. I actually had Lily drop me off at my place to get my car."

Catherine frowned at him. "So you are planning on moving back into your own place then? When?"

He could see the disappointment on her face. "Tomorrow, maybe," he shrugged his shoulders, not having really thought about when yet.

"I see… Well I have some news for you too. Grissom asked me to ask you if you wanted to come back to work next week and help out in DNA while Wendy is on vacation."

Greg's eyes lit up. "Yeah, really? That would be great for now."

"Well, if you want to do it, call Grissom and let him know. In the meantime, is my mother home yet?" A glint was in her eyes.

"No, she said she had errands to run this afternoon. Did you have something in mind?" He flashed a mischievous grin.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him down to her.

As Greg sat on the side of the bed, pulling his pants back on, Catherine looked at his back, which now had no bandages covering his scars. She lightly placed her hand on his back, but he still jumped a bit at the touch.

"Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you. I just was thinking how they do not look that bad anymore," she told him.

He turned around and looked at her. "It's okay. It did not hurt. My back just is very sensitive now to touch, but it's nice to know I don't look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame anymore," he joked.

She frowned at him. "It was never that bad, Greg."

"Hmmm, so says the woman who wants me to keep her bed warm," he smirked.

"You know, I can keep your bed warm too, once in a while now that you plan on moving out."

He seemed kind of surprised. "Are you saying you want a key to my place?"

She shrugged. "Why not? You got a key to my place already. You are free to come and go here, as you like. I know Lindsay and my mother will not care. If we want to keep this secret for awhile, your place will have to be used too, you know."

"Why is that old song 'Secret Lovers' playing through my head right now," he chuckled.

Catherine smirked at him. "Well, I have to go get Lindsay from school and run to the store with her as I promised, so I'll be back a bit later on. Call Grissom and let him know your plans."

"I got a better idea, I will drop by tonight and say hi to everyone and tell Grissom then."

"That would be nice. I know the others miss seeing your face around the lab." 


	22. Chapter 22

Greg followed Catherine into the Crime Lab, even though they came in separate cars. He gave her hand a tight squeeze and wished her good luck on her shift that night before walking into the building a step behind her.

It felt weird being in there after being absent from the lab for over a month now. He still walked with the cane but was not as dependent on it as he had been before.

"Greg, welcome back," Judy, the receptionist greeted him with a big smile.

He smiled back at her. "Thanks, it's nice to be back." He went towards the break room where Sara saw him. She immediately got up and gave him a hug.

"Greg, so good to see you. How are you doing since I've seen you last? You look good!"

Greg beamed. "Thanks. I'm doing a lot better. The doctor gave me the okay to go back to work on light duty."

"Hey Greg," Nick came over from the other side and shook his hand. "So when you coming back?"

"I'm going to talk to Grissom about that tonight."

"Cool, well glad you are doing good, man. You had us all worried there for awhile."

"I know but I am good now, really." Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Catherine walking by. She gave him a quick wink.

After catching up a few minutes with Nick and Sara, Greg walked down the hall towards Grissom's office.

"Well, well look what the cat dragged in," sneered Hodges, peeking out from his lab area.

The one person Greg did not miss he had to run into. Greg just glared at him, not wanting to deal with him.

Hodges frowned as Greg tried to ignore him. "So I hear you might be back in the lab for a little bit. Just remember it is Wendy's lab now."

Greg turned and faced Hodges. "While I am in it, it is my lab. Wendy knows she will have it back once she returns. Now do you have anything else to say to me?"

Hodges could tell Greg was not ready to take his teasing yet. "Well at least they are having someone who knows DNA fill in, I guess."

Greg let a small smirk form on his face. "Was that some attempt at a compliment, Hodges?"

Hodges walked away from him, laughing. "Please!" But Greg knew that it was Hodges weird way of giving one.

Greg walked up to Grissom's office, feeling nervous for some reason as he always did in his presence. His door was partially open. Greg knocked lightly on the door to announce his presence.

Grissom looked up from his paperwork. "Greg! I am surprised to see you here. Come in."

Greg smiled and came in and took a seat.

Grissom was pleased to see Greg looking well again, except for his use of the cane.

"I assume Catherine told you about the temporary DNA opening while Wendy goes on vacation."

Greg nodded his head. "Yes, she did and I figured I would come in person to accept it. I got the okay from my doctor to go back to work."

"You're missing the lab some, I gather then."

"Yeah I guess I am."

Grissom studied Greg for a moment. He noticed his youngest CSI did not seem so young anymore. He may have had his happy demeanor but he could tell what he had been through had taken some kind of toll on him. "Are you going to be okay getting around?"

Greg looked at his cane, knowing Grissom was referring to it. "Yes, I am fine. It's no big deal." He shrugged.

"How are you coping otherwise? Have you seen any counselors?"

Greg knew Grissom would ask that, even though he wished he would not. "I'm doing okay, Grissom, honestly. Catherine has helped me out a lot. We've talked a lot of things through."

Grissom nodded in approval. "I'm glad to hear that. I was not so sure your living with her was a good idea, but I am glad to hear it has gone well."

Greg could not help but think to himself, _better than expected_. A grin formed on his face. "She and her mom and Lindsay have been great to me. But I am going to move back to my place in the next few days."

"Well that is good to hear. Wendy goes on vacation on Monday, so you can start then. You don't need refresher or anything, do you?"

Greg smirked at the almost insult. "It's like riding a bike, you never forget."

Grissom smiled slightly. "I just needed to be sure."

After Greg left Grissom's office, he visited Wendy to see how she was and let her know he would fill in for her. She was glad it was him and not some temp DNA person from outside.

He visited with a few others before running into Catherine on his way out. She walked out with him to his car.

"So how did it go with Grissom?"

"He was fine, asked me how I was coping and all. I said you helped a lot, which is true." He stopped a moment and looked at her face shadowed in the dimly lit parking garage. "I'm not sure I would be ready to go back to work now if you had not taken such good care of me. I really want to thank you, Catherine. You and your family."

Catherine placed a hand upon his cheek. "You know I love your company and I am so glad I have been able to help you."

Greg took a quick look around to make sure no one was there to see them, and then he snuck a quick kiss on her lips. He then grinned at her.

"Smooth," she commented before letting him go. She watched him drive away, and then she proceeded to go back to work.

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Greg felt weird being back in his place after over a month of not living there. It was lonely not having anyone around to just talk to in person when he wanted to. It had been two days that he was on his own. He was going back to work that day. He actually had some nerves about doing so and he was not sure why.

Catherine had stopped by his place earlier for a quick visit, making sure he was doing okay on his own. She told him how Lindsay already missed him being around, but he knew she missed him too.

He stood in front of his bathroom mirror, straightening out his shirt collar. He noticed how he had actually gained some weight from being fed so well while he was at Catherine's place. He was going to miss that too. He would be going back to his lackadaisical cooking. He wished it was easier for them to stay living together, but he knew people would wonder why he was still living with her if he was able to work again. They would just have to keep it this way for now.

When he arrived at the Las Vegas Crime Lab, he noticed it seemed unusually quiet. He went to the locker room and put his jacket in his locker. Sara came walking in a few seconds later.

"Hey, first day back, huh? Are you ready for the craziness again?"  
He smiled at her. "Yeah I guess so. It will be weird being back in the lab, though. It's been like 3 years since I did the DNA stuff."

"Yeah, it has been awhile. You probably should grab some coffee to get you going."

"That's for sure!" Greg walked with Sara to the break room where suddenly everyone yelled, "Welcome back!" The whole gang was in the break room. He felt his face redden at the warm welcome back. Everyone was smiling at him, even Hodges who was there with Archie and the other lab rats.

"Thanks everyone." Sara gave him a hug. "We've missed your smiling face around here," she said to him.

Greg was still blushing. "I missed all of you, too." His eyes scanned everyone until they fell onto Catherine. She winked at him.

"Welcome back, Greg." He turned around to see Ecklie standing behind him.

"Thanks," Greg said, hating the way Ecklie was looking at him.

"You look well. So you are ready to work in the lab for awhile, right?" Ecklie stared at Greg.

"Yes, I am ready and willing to go," Greg said confidently to him.

"Good to know! So why don't we all get to work then," he said towards the others.

They all rolled their eyes as they started to clear out of the break room. Grissom walked with Greg to the DNA lab.

"Wendy cleared up all her work before she left, so there is nothing leftover, except maybe dayshift overflow."

Greg nodded. "Okay, that's fine. I'm ready." He felt like he had to keep saying that to convince everyone he was fine.

He was glad when Grissom finally left him alone. He noticed some things placed in different areas than the last time he had been in there, but overall he adjusted to it well.

It was not until closer to the end of his shift that Catherine came into the lab to drop off some DNA evidence.

"Wow, feels like old times dropping off DNA evidence to you in here. How's it been going?"

"It's been fine. Not too much stuff to process so far. What do you have?"

She smiled at him. "Some hairs from a B&E, nothing to exciting."

He shrugged. "Well it is better than nothing." He picked up the evidence bag and set it aside for a moment. "So do you have any plans after work today," he asked with a mischievous grin.

"Well, there is this man in my life that I've been meaning to stop by his place and try out his bed." She returned with her own sly grin.

"That's one hell of a lucky man. I bet he will be waiting for you to arrive."

"He better be," she smirked at him. "Anyways, no rush on the hairs. Shift's almost over."

Nick walked in the DNA lab. "Hey Cath! G, how's the first day back been?"

"It's been great. Nice to be busy doing something again besides watch TV and playing video games all day."

Nick grinned. "That does not sound that bad, but I know what you mean."

They talked some more about their cases before departing to finish up for their shift.


	23. Chapter 23

a/n--Thanks so much for those of you who have been constantly leaving me reviews. I really appreciate them. Glad you are enjoying the story.

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Greg's first week back at work was drawing to a close. Everything was going well. He got back into the swing of doing DNA easily. He was glad he went back to work when he did.

It was near the end of their shift when Catherine and Greg were both paged to go to Grissom's office. Catherine was already seated when Greg came in. He noticed a concerned look on Grissom's face. He looked at Catherine sitting there and wondered if they had been busted on their relationship.

Greg took the seat next to Catherine, butterflies in his stomach as he waited to hear what Grissom had to say.

"I wanted to let the two of you know immediately the news I just received. Tyler Renning, along with two other inmates, escaped during a prison transfer. The van got into an accident and the guards were hurt. It is possible the prisoners were too but they managed to escape."

Catherine looked to Greg immediately, who was just staring straight ahead. She noticed his jaw twitching.

Greg felt shell-shocked. He knew he did not want to reveal his sudden fear in front of Grissom. He wished he was just alone with Catherine, who he could reveal it to.

"How long ago did this happen," Catherine asked as she turned her attention back to Grissom.

"About an hour and a half ago. Now we have no reason to believe that he will come after the two of you, but if you feel the need for protection we can probably provide it."

Greg immediately responded to that. "No, I don't need protection. He would be foolish to come after us."

Grissom studied Greg, not sure whether to believe his attitude or not.

Catherine chimed in. "I think Greg is right. He would be foolish to come after us."

Grissom nodded at Catherine. "Fine, but still keep your eyes open, nonetheless. Once he is captured again, you two will be the first to hear."

Catherine followed Greg into the locker room. He had not said anything to her since they left Grissom's office. She reached for his arm and stopped him a moment from what he was doing. "Greg, talk to me. I know you now. If Tyler being free is bothering me, it sure the hell is bothering you."

He sighed and looked at her. She could see the worry in his eyes now. "Yeah it sure is bothering me, but I don't want anyone to know but you." He rubbed his hand over his face. "Damn, how the hell did he get loose and why do I have such a bad feeling about it?" Greg sat down on the bench.

Catherine sat next to him, placing her arm around his waist.  
"Greg, you're not alone. I am worried too. Tyler is a loose cannon and what he did to you, you have every right to worry about him being out there."

He did not say anything; he just stared down at the floor. Catherine did not want him to be alone after work. "Say, Lindsay is spending a few days at her other grandparents house. Why don't you come over to my place after work? I could use the company."

He looked at her with suspicion. "You are just worried about me, that's why you want me to come over so you can keep an eye on me."

She huffed a bit. "Greg, you know you would have probably come over anyway. Don't make this a reason you won't."

He put his hands up in defense. "I never said I wouldn't come over, now did I?"

She glared at him. "You can be very frustrating at time, Greg Sanders."

Greg could not help but grin widely. "I try my best."

Still frustrated, she stood up and started to leave the locker room. She spun around on her heel and gave him a quick look. "See you later." She smirked and then left.

He felt better just after the brief talk with Catherine, even though she was slightly ticked off at him.

On his drive home, he thought about Ty possibly being somewhere nearby and it sent shivers down his spine. He had not really thought about him at all since he had been back at work. Now he was front and center in his mind again. He only hoped Ty was smart enough to get far, far away from Las Vegas.

Catherine also had her own worries about Tyler being on the loose. She remembered how pissed off he was the last time she saw him. He was so angry about Jessica's death. But then she flashed back to the image that seemed to most haunt her dreams, Tyler stabbing Greg in the back and Greg suffering in pain while Tyler licked his blood off the knife. Catherine shook her head as she sat on her sofa, trying to forget that.

She was startled by a knock at her door. She got up and saw Greg outside her door. She opened it up for him. "What happened to your key?"

"I forgot it at home, on my counter," he replied sheepishly. He walked inside, looking around. "Is Lily gone too?"

"Yes, she is visiting with an old friend in Reno. It's just you and me," she smiled warmly at him.

They sat together on the sofa. Greg noticed for the first time in awhile an anxious look about her. "You've been thinking more about Ty now too, haven't you?"

She gave him a slight frown. "So you can read me pretty well too, now I see."

"I guess so. You really think we have anything to worry about?"

Catherine shrugged. "I'm not sure. Probably not. We are probably just being paranoid after all we've had to deal with."

"You're probably right. Ty couldn't be that stupid." Greg looked off into the distance, still not feeling reassured by his own words.

Catherine studied Greg's profile and wondered about how he always referred to Tyler. "Greg, can I ask you something?"

He turned his head towards her again. "Sure, what?"

"Why do you always refer to Tyler as Ty?"

His expression turned a bit solemn. "I don't know. I guess it is because he had told me back in that room before you came, to call him Ty. He said he wanted me to use his name when I begged for my life."

She felt an incredible hatred toward Tyler at that moment, almost wishing that she would find him and do the honor of ending his life. "You never told me that before."

He looked down, seeming venerable. "Well I try not to think about it much."

She was regretful she brought it up to him. She placed her head on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I asked."

He turned to her, lifting her chin to look into her clear blue eyes. "Don't be sorry. I can't have you worrying about everything you say to me." He kissed her softly. "Why don't we just forget all about Mr. Renning and just concentrate on us for now."

She smiled at him. "Sounds like a perfect idea to me."

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They lay next to each other in bed. Catherine gazed at Greg, who was still sleeping. They had to get up and get ready for work soon. She hated having to wake him up. He looked so peaceful. She ran her hand through his wavy, slightly spiked hair. "Greg, wake up."

He slowly opened his big brown eyes. She loved looking into them. They revealed so many emotions. "We have to get ready for work soon," she told him. He made a low groan.

"Do we have to?" He snuggled closer to her, putting his arms around her.

She gave him a stern look. "Yes we have to. I know, I'd love to stay here in bed with you too, but we have an important job to do."

He sighed. "Yes, I know you're right." She smiled at him then proceeded to sit up in bed, grabbing her robe to throw on.

She watched Greg sit up and noticed him grimace. "Are you in pain?"

He looked at her, a slight frown on his face. "A little bit. Some days are better than others, looks like today will be one of the not so good days."

"I wasn't too rough with you, was I?" She tried suppressing a laugh.

Greg broke into a big grin. "You wish!" He laughed then stood up and grimaced again when he tried to straighten himself out. He walked over and picked up his jeans and reached in his pocket for his painkillers.

"When is your next therapy session," she asked him.

"Tomorrow or after shift today, however you want to put it."

"I see, so you won't be going home right away. After work then."

He shook his head. "Nope, I will be home later on. Why did you want to do something?"

Catherine shrugged. "No, not really, just wondering."

He raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "Okay."

They both took a shower then drove off in their separate vehicles for work.

Greg arrived home from his physical therapy session beat. He showered then eagerly crawled into bed to catch up on some much needed sleep.

He was having a nice dream about Catherine that was turning into a nightmare as Ty came into it. Ty was torturing Catherine. Greg was trying to get to her, but he could not move. He was paralyzed.

He heard her saying his name, but her voice was calm. He felt like someone was shaking him. He jumped up in his bed, his heart beating rapidly. He saw a figure standing by his bedside. "Damn, don't ever do that again. You scared the living crap out of me."

"Sorry, I thought you heard me come in originally. Then I came in here and you were thrashing around in bed. I tried calling your name but you were not responding." Catherine sat down on the side of his bed, looking apologetic. "Your nightmares are back because Tyler is out there again."

Greg looked at her sadly. "Yeah. I hate that I let him get to me like that."

She took his hands in hers. "It's only been a few weeks since everything and now with him out there running around free, it is understandable that you would be having some again."

"God, I hope they catch him soon. I was really starting to feel back to my old self again and now this happened to mess me up again."

Catherine smiled a bit. "You're not messed up, Greg. You are just dealing with what's going on like any normal person would."

"Perhaps," he shrugged. "So what are you doing here now anyway? I thought you were busy this afternoon."

"Well turns out Lindsay will be staying longer with her Grandparents and I am fine with that for now, since Tyler is on the loose. I just feel better having her not around right now. And my mother is going to San Diego for a short vacation, so I figured I would stop by and see how you were doing after your physical therapy session."

He smiled at her. "Still worried about me, I see."

"Of course I am. I care about you a lot. I was hoping you were feeling better now."

A mischievous grin started forming on his face. "I might be better if we start messing around some."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Oh, really? Maybe I can do something about that." She smirked.

He threw back his sheets to let her crawl in next to him.


	24. Chapter 24

Wendy was back from vacation so Greg was put on desk duty for an additional week per his physical therapist. Greg preferred the DNA Lab to going through tons of paperwork and old case files.

Catherine had the evening off. They tried to get the same shifts off, but then they thought people would start becoming suspicious about them always being off together, so they did not make the request.

Greg had been going over to Catherine's after work since she was still home alone. Her daughter was coming back in two days.

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was already 4 am. Only a couple more hours and he could go. The one good thing about desk duty was he never had to pull overtime.

Catherine had gone to a midnight movie showing at a theater close to her. It was something she did often since she was not able to sleep at night. She finally pulled into her driveway around 3:45 am. She opened the garage door and parked the car inside. Her garage was full of boxes on one side, stuff from her ex-husband that she never got rid of.

She yawned as she walked up to her door in the garage. She thought she heard something move. She spun around fast only to see a large man for a brief second before being knocked out.

Her head was pounding when she woke up. She had not opened her eyes yet. She knew something was wrong, very wrong. She knew she was lying down and her arms were tied up over her head. Her heart thumped with the nerves she had inside her. She had a terrible feeling of who it was she saw so briefly before she was knocked out. She was afraid to open her eyes and see him, but she knew she could not hide from him forever.

She slowly cracked open her eyes and saw him pacing at the foot of the bed. She now realized she was on her bed and practically naked, tied up to it. He had stripped her down to only her underwear. The panic was rising inside her. She turned her head ever so slightly just to see the clock besides her to figure out how long she was out. It was already 6 am.

"So you've finally woken up, Catherine Willows. I was starting to think I knocked you on your head too hard and that would have defeated my purpose, partially." Tyler Renning walked over to her bedside and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. He pulled out from behind him a large knife. He gave her a wicked grin, licking his lips as his eyes traveled over her body.

Catherine shivered and tried to pivot her body away from him on the bed.

"Oh no, no, no, my dear, there is no escape for you. You are my little toy until the little punk arrives."

Her eyes opened wide, realizing he meant Greg.

Tyler saw her wordless reaction and chuckled. "You are probably wondering how I know he will come. Well, I used your cell phone and sent him a text message, telling him you were eagerly awaiting his arrival. I have been watching you two from afar for the past few days, planning when to make my move. I cannot believe you two are actually together. He is a bit young for you. I think I would be more of your style." He looked at her, then at his knife, then back to her. She swallowed, scared of what was going through his sick, twisted mind.

"What do you want from me," she finally asked him.

"Wow, she does speak. So unlike dear Greg, who could not keep his smart-ass mouth shut. Anyway, you asked a question I am willing to answer, just so you can understand your fate."

"The plan is," he took his knife and placed it on her thigh and then slightly puncturing her skin, drew it down her leg. She cringed trying not cry out in pain.

"The plan is to cause a little bit of damage to this perfect skin of yours and then wait until the little punk arrives and overtake him. Then I can lay you two side by side, like Jessie and I did when we were working as a team. I will do my work and then her work, since you all killed her in jail."

"We already told you she died from her constant drug use."

He just shook his head, placing his knife on her left arm now. "NO! You all just want me to believe that, but I know you all killed her. Now I will take you and Greg down for her death and my imprisonment." He gave her another evil smile then drew blood down her arm. She whimpered from the pain she was now in. He was not cutting deep like he had with Greg but it was still painful nonetheless.

"I think that is enough for now. The real fun will begin once your boy toy gets here. And now I can't have you screaming when he comes here, so," he grabbed a roll of duct tape he had on the nightstand, which he had used to bound her hands to her bed post.

Catherine had to stall him or distract him somehow, hoping he would not hear when Greg came in. "How did you manage to get into your other victims motel rooms?"

He grunted. "I guess I can tell you, since you will be dead soon enough anyway. We followed them back from the bars and pool halls to their rooms. We waited a little while and then Jessie went to their door, knocking frantically, acting like she was running away from an attacker. Once inside she would needle them to knock them out and then let me inside and we would start our fun. She used to be a nurse, you know. She was hot as hell in her scrubs when she wore them. I met her when I had to go to the hospital for a bad cut I had. We kept in touch, but then she was jailed for stabbing her crappy ex-boyfriend. When she got back out we got hot and heavy. But she still had connections at the hospital and she managed to get the sedative we used, whatever the hell the name was. She was always better with the medical aspects of things. She knew just where to cut without killing a person right away. Damn she was good." He looked distant for a few seconds.

"We never did find where you hid all your stuff, where was it?"

"We kept it at an old abandoned shed out on Shelby Rd, way far away from where we did our pickings and work. We had discovered it on a hiking trip."

"Why such the mess in the rooms but yet you cleaned up with the bleach in the bathrooms?"

Tyler was getting mad. "You know, you might be just as bad as that little punk Greg Sanders with all your questions. This is the last one I will answer only because you are such a pretty thing. Again Jessie was the clean freak, might have been because of her work in the hospital, but she was always like that…even where we stayed. She had to have things in order. The bloody walls? I love blood, how it looks, the way it smells." He leaned in closer to her. "The way it tastes. Now no more." He ripped off a piece of duct tape and put it over her mouth. "There! Now you can try to scream but no one will hear you, not your precious Greg when he comes in. Now I will take my place and wait for him to come." He flashed a wicked grin and closed the bedroom door almost completely, standing behind it.

Catherine's mind raced with fear and worry. She had no way of freeing herself and she had no way of warning Greg of the trap he was going to walk into. She looked at Tyler, who stood behind the door, twirling his knife in his hands. He was going to attack Greg immediately with the knife. She could not bare the thought of Greg suffering again.

Greg drove to Catherine's house eager to see her since he received her text message. He knew she hated being alone for long, since neither her mom nor Lindsay was home.

He parked his car in the driveway and went up to the front door. He used his key to let himself in. He said her name quietly as he closed the door behind him. He knew she might be asleep so he did not want to wake her up unnecessarily if he did not have to. He would just sneak into her room like he had a few times before.

She was not in the living room, so he figured she was in her bedroom. He walked up to her door and partially opened it. His eyes opened wide in alarm when he caught sight of her bound, half naked and bleeding. He caught her eyes looking behind the door. His mind and reflexes raced. He slammed against the door, pushing it back into Tyler who stood behind it.

Greg knew he made the right move when he saw a large knife fall onto the ground from behind the door. It fell near the foot of the bed. Greg went to slam against the door again but felt resistance this time. Greg decided to go for the weapon on the floor instead before Tyler got it first.

He ran from where he stood by the door and dove down to grab at the knife. He had his fingers on it when he felt a kick to his ribs, which caused him to lose his grip on it. He fell onto his back, clutching his side. He looked up and saw Ty sneering over him. Greg frantically looked for the knife again. It had slid under the bed. He tried reaching for it again.

Ty pounced down on Greg and punched him in the face. Greg felt his head spin a bit, but he continued trying to reach for the knife.

"You are nothing but a pain in my ass, boy. I am going to finish off you and then your girlfriend once and for all." Ty put his left hand around Greg's throat, attempting to choke him.

Greg took his right hand and tried to cut off Tyler's hold on his neck. He was not paying attention to what Tyler was doing with his other hand. Suddenly he felt a fierce sharp pain digging in his side. He just gasped as the pain seared through him.

The pleased look on Ty's face infuriated him. "Looks like I'm going to get the best of you this time around, punk."

Greg could feel Ty twisting the smaller knife into him. He tried to keep his focus, although a bit strained now from the pain he was in. Greg's fingers still fought for the large knife.

Greg gasped again as Ty pulled the small Swiss army knife out of his side. Ty snickered evilly. Greg lost his concentration on the knife again due to his finding it more difficult to breathe.

Ty lifted his head and looked at Catherine. She had tears in her eyes; she could not see what was going on since they were down on the ground at the foot of her bed, but seeing Ty only made her worry more.

"Sorry doll, not going quite as I planned but I will be with you as soon as I am done with your boyfriend here, which will be very soon."

Catherine had not heard Greg say or make any kind of noise. She wondered if he was even still alive. She tried screaming for him through the duct tape, but still she did not see him or hear him.

Ty turned his attention back to Greg, leaning down over him. "Your end is very near. Do you want to beg now for your life before I make things worse? Or will you beg for a quick death?" He laughed wickedly at Greg then turned his head towards Catherine again.

"I'll make you the same offer too, sweetheart, as soon as I am done here."

Catherine now feared the worst. He was going to kill Greg and then she was next. She did not know how they could get out of this alive.

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A/N-I needed to get some excitement of the tense kind back in this story before it is all over. Thanks Haldir's Heart and Soul, GoldenLocks, tricks-meuler, and all my other loyal readers and reviews. I am glad you are enjoying the story.

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	25. Chapter 25

Greg managed to get his fingers on the knife while Ty taunted Catherine. He pulled the knife into his hand.

Ty looked back down at Greg. Greg was smiling at him. "What are you smiling about, boy? I got you good now. You see, look here." Ty took the Swiss army knife he used to stab Greg and licked his blood off of it. "What a sweet taste you have."

Greg's smile disappeared and changed to a look of disgust. "You are one sick bastard," he said in a low voice.

Ty got right in Greg's face. "I love the taste of blood and the younger the blood the better. If Jessie was here she would love to taste yours as well as your slut's."

"But she is not here, is she now? So you're the only sick one left." Greg said quietly through labored breathing.

"Maybe so, but this sick bastard wins this time around." Ty raised his knife as though he was about to slice Greg's throat. "It's time to say goodbye, Punk!"

Greg reacted fast. He took the knife he had and plunged it into Tyler's back. He watched as Tyler had a sudden look of surprise on his face. Then the knife fell loosely from Tyler's hand and he collapsed to the side of Greg.

Catherine could hear the commotion but had no idea what was going on. She feared the worst for Greg.

Greg lay still for a moment, trying to breathe normally. He reached over and felt for Ty's pulse. He did not find one. He felt honest relief for the first time since he ever saw Ty.

He reached in his pocket and got out his cell phone to call dispatch for help. He could only whisper but they heard him. Once he finished with the call, he pulled himself up slowly using the posts on the end of the bed, clutching his bleeding side. He drew his jacket snuggly around him as the cold crept into his body. He managed to stand up although in much pain.

When Catherine saw him she felt a huge wave of relief. He came over to her slowly and took the tape off her mouth first.

"Oh Greg! Thank God! I thought he killed you." She exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Greg just shook his head and continued trying to free her hands. "You're bleeding," he said softly to her.

She looked at her arm and leg, which Tyler had cut into. "Those aren't too deep. He told me he was going to do worse once you were here."

"So he knew I was coming," he asked trying to mask his pain by regulating his breathing.

"Yes, he's been watching us from afar he said. He sent you the text message from my phone."

Greg finally managed to cut loose her hands. Catherine threw her arms around him. He let out a cry in pain, almost feeling like he was going to pass out. She let go immediately and looked alarmed. She could not see him bleeding because he had his jacket covering it.

"What's wrong? Did he hurt you? Is it your back again?" She now really noticed how pale he was and the sweat beading on his brow. She thought it was from his fight with Tyler. She grabbed his hands and saw the blood on both of them.

"Whose blood is this, Greg?"

He did not want her to worry about him again but he was feeling too weak now to hide it. He pulled open his jacket.

She gasped at his blood soaked shirt. Her eyes flew up to his. "Greg! My God!" She immediately got up, but felt a bit unsteady herself from her head but managed to run into the bathroom and grabbed some towels.

Greg lay back on the bed. He closed his eyes for a moment only thinking that Tyler Renning was dead and no longer able to hurt them.

Catherine came back out and panicked seeing Greg lying down with his eyes closed. "Greg! Greg, wake up!"

He opened his eyes back up, staring at her beautiful, yet panic stricken face. "I'm okay. I was just resting my eyes."

"You are not okay! You are going to bleed to death! I can't lose you now!"

He gave her a faint smile. "You won't lose me. I'll be fine. The paramedics are on the way. I called them. Ty is dead. We will be fine now."

She glared at him a moment, irritated with his stubbornness and nonchalant attitude. She applied the towels and pressure to his wound. He winced as the pain increased with the pressure.

"Sorry, but I have to," she told him. He nodded his head, knowing she was right.

She frowned and glanced over the end of the bed and saw Tyler's body with the knife in his back. She looked back at Greg, who had been staring at her.

"Did you check his pulse?"

"Yes, he is dead. It was him or me. He was about to slash my throat, if I had not moved fast enough."

She gazed at him and ran her hand through his hair in relief. "Well I am glad you were quicker than he was." She smiled at him.

Greg's expression turned more serious. "He didn't do anything else to you, did he?"

She shook her head. "No, nothing like that. He must have somehow broke into the garage and was waiting for me. I hardly heard him when he knocked me out." She subconsciously put a hand to her head where he hit her. She had a nice bump there now. "I woke up in my bed, tied up and well, stripped down to how I am now."

Greg could not bare the thought of him touching her like that. He was glad he was the one to kill him. He shook the thought from his head. He turned his attention back to Catherine, wanting to lighten up the mood.

"You do look sexy in that though." He grinned a bit.

She scowled at him. "You're practically dying here and that's all you can think of!?!"

"I'm not dying, I told you. Now that I am with the woman I love, you think I am leaving?"

She was slightly taken back a moment hearing the word "love" come out of his mouth. She thought about her own feelings for him at the moment. She studied him; he was not looking well at all, despite what he was telling her. She could not lose him. She knew it then for sure. "Well I don't want to lose the man I love so you better stick around."

He smiled at her then closed his eyes again.

She kept holding the towels against his wound. Her head was pounding from her injury and her fear for Greg's life. The pain from her arm and leg hardly bothered her, but she was starting to feel weak from her own blood loss. "Where is the damn ambulance," she said, looking towards the door impatiently.

"I can hear the sirens," Greg said so quietly she could hardly head him.

She looked down at him. "What?"

He opened his eyes slightly. "They are coming, listen."

She stared at him while listening. She finally heard them "You have some good ears on you for listening to music so loudly." She chuckled.

He just smiled at her.

She felt some relief knowing they would be there soon.

The first people through the door were Captain Brass and Gil Grissom. They came in and saw Catherine, who had thrown a robe over herself due to her feeling rather exposed and cold, sitting on the bed next to Greg, who looked very unwell. Brass immediately went to Tyler when he saw him on the ground. He checked his pulse.

Grissom came over to Catherine and Greg.

"Tyler's dead," Catherine said to Brass. Brass stood up and nodded his head. "So I see."

Grissom looked at Greg, whose eyes were closed again. "Paramedics are right behind me."

"Great." Grissom was surprised to hear Greg speak. Greg opened his eyes partially. "Hey boss. Sorry about the mess. Looks like I'll be out from work awhile again."

Grissom was happy to hear Greg able to joke around some. "That's perfectly fine, Greg. Just as long as you are alive."

Grissom looked to Catherine, who looked pale also. "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head. "I'm fine."

Greg spoke slowly again. "She had been cut and was knocked out on the head."

Grissom narrowed his eyes at Catherine. "I'll have the paramedics check you out too."

Brass spoke up as the paramedics came in. "How did Greg get involved here, Catherine? I thought he was not living with you anymore?"

Greg looked at Catherine, knowing their secret would have to come out.

"Tyler had been watching us. He knew Greg would come over. We've, uh, been seeing each other for a few weeks now." Catherine felt herself blush some at revealing their relationship.

Brass had an amused look on his face as he looked at Grissom, who raised his eyebrows.

"I see," Brass smirked. Grissom suppressed a smile.

The paramedics asked Grissom to move so they could assist Greg and Catherine. Catherine demanded to ride along in the same ambulance as Greg to the hospital.

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A/N-Thanks again for all your reviews. Only one chapter left after this one. :)

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	26. Chapter 26

The paramedics asked Grissom to move aside to get to Greg and Catherine. Catherine demanded to ride along in the same ambulance as Greg.

At the hospital they admitted Catherine due to the concussion she suffered. She wanted to know about Greg, but they would not tell her anything. He had been taken into surgery immediately. He had lost a lot of blood again and they were not sure what kind of damage or organs the knife possibly impacted.

Grissom and Brass went to see her and asked her to tell them exactly what happened. She told them she was not sure exactly what happened between Tyler and Greg because she could not see them from where she had been tied up on the bed. She was too worried about Greg to tell them much more. They said they would come back later on once they knew about Greg. She was able to fall asleep even though she was worried about Greg's condition.

She had been asleep for a while when Grissom and Brass came into the room, looking grim. "Catherine," Grissom said to her. She opened her eyes and saw their faces.

"What's wrong? Where's Greg?" Her heart raced with panic.

Brass looked down. Grissom spoke softly. "I'm sorry, Catherine. He didn't make it through the surgery."

Catherine thought her heart stopped. "No! NO!! He can't be dead. You are lying to me. Where is he? Let me see him!" Catherine burst into tears, screaming.

She woke with a start, sitting up in bed. She looked around and no one was there. It was a dream. It had to be just a dream. She was about to get out of bed when Warrick and Nick walked in.

"Whoa, Catherine. You are supposed to stay in bed," Nick told her as he and Warrick tried to get her to lie back down.

"How's Greg? Is he alive? Please tell me!"

"Catherine, he is fine. Just minus his spleen now, but otherwise he is in ICU now, sleeping." Warrick sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"I want to see him," she demanded.

"He's fine. You can't do anything for him right now. Grissom is in his room with him now anyway. The doctors want you to stay put for now. You suffered from a pretty good concussion they told us. So just think about your own self for a bit. Greg will be there still later on." Nick said, trying to calm her down.

"You're sure he is going to be fine," she asked one more time.

"Yes, we promise," Warrick stated.

She relaxed some. They would not lie to her about this. "So they had to remove his spleen?"

"Yeah, too much damage from the knife. They said he was lucky it was a small knife. A large one could have killed him."

Catherine leaned her head back, relieved to know there was not too much damage. Greg had been through too much already.

"Are you doing okay," Nick asked her.

"Yeah, my arm and leg are just sore. My head feels better now."

They talked some more about what happened, but never brought up her relationship with Greg. She was not sure if Grissom told them or not. Then they let her get some more sleep, as they could see she was drifting off.

The next day Grissom was sitting in Greg's room in ICU. He had not woken up yet. He had promised Catherine that someone would stay with him until he woke up. He had just replaced Sara and let her go get some rest.

It was hard seeing Greg in the hospital again. The only thing that made him feel better about it this time was that Tyler Renning was now dead and maybe Greg could find some real peace.

He was reading a new issue of the forensics journal when he noticed Greg seeming to wake up. He put down the journal to greet Greg.

"Greg?" Greg opened his eyes slowly. He noticed Grissom looking at him. It was nice to have someone there this time when he woke up. Last time he remembered being alone.

"Hey Grissom," he said weakly.

"Glad to see you awake. How are you feeling?"

"Sore, but otherwise okay considering. How's Catherine?"

Grissom smiled. "She is fine. She is in her own room a floor down. They wanted to keep her overnight due to her concussion, but she is well."

"Glad to hear." He closed his eyes again and thought about the fact that he killed Tyler. He worried for a moment about that. He opened up his eyes and looked at Grissom.

"I killed Tyler in self defense, you know. I had to or I would be dead right now and probably Catherine too."

Grissom knew Greg was probably worried about having to go through another Coroner's Inquest, but this was a completely different kind of case from the Demetrius James one. "Greg, we know that. You do not need to worry about anything. This is a different sort of case. There will be no inquest on this one."

Greg took a shaky breath. "Are you sure?"

Grissom smiled at him. "I am sure, Greg. You will be fine."

Greg nodded his head in relief.

"Is there anything you need," Grissom asked him.

Greg felt weird asking but he asked if he could see Catherine.

"I will talk to the nurses and see if they say it is okay. If it is, I will bring her by myself."

Greg smiled in appreciation at Grissom. "Thanks."

"No problem, Greg. I will go now and see. Get some more rest until then." Greg nodded his head again and then closed his eyes.

Grissom came in a little while later to see Catherine. She was watching the television. She turned it off seeing Grissom come in.

"Hello! How are you feeling today," he asked her as he stood by her bedside.

"I think I am ready to get out of here. Um, have you seen Greg yet?" She looked hopeful that he had.

"As a matter of fact I just came from his room. He was asking about you." He smiled at her.

Her eyes lit up. "Really? He is awake and talking?"

"Yes, he is a bit weak still and in ICU, but he will be fine they say. I was wondering if you wanted to go see him now?"

"Of course I do. I have been worried sick about him."

"I figured so much, so I will get the nurse to bring in the wheelchair to take you over to his room." Grissom could see how happy this made Catherine.

The nurse opened the door, while Grissom wheeled Catherine into Greg's room. Catherine smiled as she saw Greg open his soft brown eyes. He smiled at her.

"Hey! Didn't I tell you I wasn't going to die?" He said meekly.

"Yeah, you did," Catherine smiled back.

Grissom cleared his throat a moment. "Um, I got some work back at the office. Just call for the nurse when you want to go back to your room. And Greg, glad to hear you're doing well."

Once Grissom felt, Catherine moved closer to Greg's bed. "So I hear you are spleen-less."

"Yeah supposedly you can live without the thing for the most part. Guess I am lucky Ty did not know how to really cause damage."

Catherine held his hand and looked at him seriously. "How are you really doing?"

He appeared thoughtful. "Honestly, even though Ty still managed to stab me, I am glad he is dead. When I walked in your room and saw you…I was so scared for that second." He closed his eyes and shook his head of the memory. "But I knew it had to be Tyler. I saw you look and instincts just kicked in. I should have realized he had another knife on him."

"You couldn't have known." She caressed his face. "You're okay and I am okay, that's all that matters now."

"Yeah, I guess so. Grissom said I won't have to worry about an inquest or anything like that with what happened."

"I should hope not. He would have killed you and then me if you had not done what you did." She looked down at the floor. "I do not know what I would have done if you had died." Her eyes gazed back into his. "I've become really attached to having you around. I know a part of me would have never been the same if you died."

He smiled. "Well I feel the same about you. I am just grateful he did not hurt you too badly. He's one sick bastard. He actually licked my blood off his knife, saying how sweet it was." Greg made a disgusted face.

Catherine's eyes widened. "He did it again?"

He narrowed his eyes in questioning. "Again?"

She lowered her eyes. "Yeah he did it back in the hotel room, after slashing your back. You could not see it, but it is an image that has haunted many of my dreams about that day."

Greg's face was solemn. "I'm sorry that had to be hard to see."

She shook her head. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I am just sorry you had to go through all of that and here again you are in the hospital."

He shrugged his shoulders, grimacing with the movement. "Well at least you are here with me this time around." He held her hand tight.

She caressed his face. "I am glad I am here with you this time too."

They took a moment just enjoying being alive and in each other's presence before Greg spoke again. "So the cat's out of the bag now? Has anyone said anything to you about us being together?"

Catherine shook her head. "No, I think they are just giving us time right now before they say anything more."

Greg smiled some. "Well, then I think we need to take advantage of that time as much as we can."

She smirked at him. "We can't do much here in the hospital bed. Besides you just had surgery yesterday."

He frowned, knowing he was still in pain. "I know, but when I am out of ICU, you know there is always foreplay." He could not hide his grin.

Catherine laughed. "You are crazy."

"And that's one of the reasons why you love me," he said still smiling.

She gazed at him adorningly. "Yes, it is." She scooted over to him and kissed him.

THE END!

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A/N-Thanks everyone for reading. Thanks to KyliedaRock, Haldir's Heart and Soul, Teamarie, GoldenLocks, tricks-meuler, and everyone else for leaving lovely reviews. I really appreciated them a lot. You all rock! Thanks to my so called editor winks at slappywhite for your help. I am thinking about a sequel to this...but not quite ready to do one yet. 


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